Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Increases Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,011 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,729 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in AbbVie during the first quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 4,201.9% in the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 62,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,382,000 after purchasing an additional 61,053 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 13.2% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whalerock Point Partners LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 1.4% during the first quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 11,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,015,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wolfe Research started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $176.95 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $189.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.44, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.65 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

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.