Ballast Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ballast Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,537 shares of the company’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% during 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 period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the first quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth $200,000. Finally, Hemenway Trust Co LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 31,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,799,000 after purchasing an additional 3,472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock traded up $2.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $203.93. The stock had a trading volume of 287,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,296,563. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.85 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.10. The firm has a market cap of $360.21 billion, a PE ratio of 70.03, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 226.99% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America increased their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.00.

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.