Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 10.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 224,822 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,329 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $44,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABBV. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter worth $646,000. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 7,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,384,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its position in AbbVie by 110.4% during the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 719,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,954,000 after buying an additional 377,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kinloch Capital LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 7.1% in the first quarter. Kinloch Capital LLC now owns 19,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ABBV. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three 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 MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $176.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $312.70 billion, a PE ratio of 61.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.65 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $189.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.17.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

AbbVie 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.