EP Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,347 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,298 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $19,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 196.9% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 68,358 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,499,000 after purchasing an additional 45,336 shares in the last quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,344 shares of the company's stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 152.0% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 578,116 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,166,000 after buying an additional 348,697 shares in the last quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 47.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,786 shares of the company's stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 573 shares during the period. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 21.4% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 233,498 shares of the company's stock worth $46,111,000 after acquiring an additional 41,093 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of ABBV stock traded up $0.02 on Friday, hitting $176.19. 4,839,640 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,454,487. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.58. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $186.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.38. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $145.20 and a one year high of $207.32. 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 (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. This is a boost from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America increased their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.38.

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.