Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Lowers Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. trimmed its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 844 shares of the company’s stock after selling 684 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp grew its holdings in AbbVie by 486.1% in 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 period. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 6,065 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.38.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $176.22 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.17. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.73 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.19, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 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 company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. 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 presently 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.