AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Stake Lessened by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. lowered its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,272 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,282 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth $27,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $176.94 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.65 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $189.47 and a 200-day moving average of $181.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $312.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

About AbbVie

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.