LPL Financial LLC Acquires 92,492 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,657,804 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 92,492 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $524,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 249.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120,310 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $367,372,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in AbbVie by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,744,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,956,518,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,201 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 12.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,434 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $167.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.65 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $190.25 and its 200 day moving average is $181.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $296.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.37.

AbbVie 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.