Freedom Investment Management Inc. Cuts Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,214 shares of the company’s stock after selling 605 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth approximately $646,000. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at $221,000. Montchanin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at $875,000. Finally, National Wealth Management Group LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 199.1% during the 1st quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Trading Up 2.3 %

AbbVie stock opened at $181.16 on Wednesday. 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 1 year low of $137.65 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $188.85 and its 200-day moving average is $181.58. The company has a market cap of $320.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.90, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 3.62%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.