Fred Alger Management LLC Increases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 17.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 102,765 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,332 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $20,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after acquiring an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in AbbVie by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after acquiring an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in AbbVie by 7.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,841,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,516,358,000 after purchasing an additional 623,569 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.1 %

ABBV opened at $182.93 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $138.01 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $323.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.75.

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. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.50.

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.