New Hampshire Trust Boosts Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

New Hampshire Trust lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,289 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up 1.3% of New Hampshire Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kalos Management Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $37,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, General Partner Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $40,000. 67.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Piper Jaffray Companies lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. TheStreet upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Monday, August 28th. HSBC began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $167.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.79.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV opened at $153.93 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.33. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $168.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $146.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.44. The company has a market cap of $271.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.12. AbbVie had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 151.29%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.52 billion. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.03 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 13th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 12th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 121.81%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 18,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.15, for a total transaction of $2,759,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 625,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,262,600.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

About AbbVie

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, a therapy administered as an injection for autoimmune, intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq, a JAK inhibitor to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, and ulcerative colitis; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat hematological malignancies.