Hanlon Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Hanlon Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,360 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in AbbVie during the first quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 519,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,628,000 after purchasing an additional 25,500 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% in the first quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 13,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 13.7% in the first quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 20,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,792,000 after buying an additional 2,515 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $200.47 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.85. The stock has a market cap of $354.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.85 and a twelve month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. Piper Sandler upped their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

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.