Avity Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Avity Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,448 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $3,229,888,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $499,955,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 44,988,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,971,796,000 after acquiring an additional 2,542,463 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 39.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,422,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,252,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,239 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,451,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,774,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,702,415 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ABBV. HSBC upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.64.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $171.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $302.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.90, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $164.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.54. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.13 and a 1 year high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 179.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

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.