New Century Financial Group LLC Acquires 690 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

New Century Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,395 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 249.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after buying an additional 3,120,310 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in AbbVie by 156.0% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $632,619,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $367,372,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $188.86 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $135.85 and a one year high of $199.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $333.50 billion, a PE ratio of 56.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.47.

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.