Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Raises Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,831 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,698,847,000 after acquiring an additional 992,496 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after buying an additional 1,240,434 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $176.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $311.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.57, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.83. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $136.30 and a twelve month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.41.

AbbVie Company 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.