Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Purchases 373,802 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 373,802 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,842,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 486.1% during the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after purchasing an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its position in AbbVie by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,624,000 after buying an additional 24,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,282,000 after buying an additional 6,065 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.7 %

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 one year low of $137.65 and a one year high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $296.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $190.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.01.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.37.

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.