Ballentine Partners LLC Raises Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 17.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,590 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,603 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.47.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $189.68 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $135.85 and a one year high of $199.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $334.95 billion, a PE ratio of 56.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

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.