Meridian Wealth Management LLC Acquires 2,363 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,878 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,363 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 0.7% of Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $14,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% in the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 57.5% during the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,282,000 after purchasing an additional 6,065 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $172.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.65 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The stock has a market cap of $304.27 billion, a PE ratio of 59.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $189.81 and a 200-day moving average of $180.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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 yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

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.