Northern Trust Corp Cuts Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Northern Trust Corp trimmed its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 21,444,888 shares of the company’s stock after selling 780,116 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises about 0.6% of Northern Trust Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,889,270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kalos Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Miller Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Miller Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at $39,000. 67.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.0 %

AbbVie stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $138.26. 378,678 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,501,142. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.88. The company has a market capitalization of $244.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.89, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.59, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.84. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $168.11.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 16th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.48%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 169.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ABBV. Barclays raised AbbVie from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Monday, October 30th. TheStreet raised shares of AbbVie from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Monday, August 28th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. StockNews.com began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $157.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.69.

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.