AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Holdings Cut by Edge Capital Group LLC

Edge Capital Group LLC decreased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,109 shares of the company’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ML & R Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1,344.6% during the 2nd quarter. ML & R Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,515,000 after purchasing an additional 24,283 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 17,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,351,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 100,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the last quarter. Truepoint Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 52.4% during the 2nd quarter. Truepoint Inc. now owns 2,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 33,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. Barclays upgraded shares of AbbVie from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $157.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 20th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.69.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $138.59 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $147.52 and a 200-day moving average of $144.52. The company has a market capitalization of $244.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.97, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $168.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.59, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.96.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 27th. The company reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $13.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.72 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.81% and a return on equity of 152.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 162.19%.

AbbVie Company Profile

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