North Star Investment Management Corp. Has $16.87 Million Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

North Star Investment Management Corp. decreased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,431 shares of the company’s stock after selling 651 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for about 1.2% of North Star Investment Management Corp.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $16,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Capital Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. now owns 182,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,638 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 110,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,864,000 after buying an additional 1,652 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 5.4% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 24,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237 shares during the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 15.3% in the third quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Management Corp VA bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $215,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group upped their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.00.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.3 %

ABBV stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $201.15. 788,448 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,299,043. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The company has a market cap of $355.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $194.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.