AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by ESL Trust Services LLC

ESL Trust Services LLC lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 21.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 342 shares of the company’s stock after selling 96 shares during the quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $68,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. First Hawaiian Bank increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,657 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,624,000 after buying an additional 24,756 shares during the last quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth approximately $1,349,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 27,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,333,000 after buying an additional 6,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 109.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 6,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,249,000 after acquiring an additional 3,301 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.5 %

AbbVie stock opened at $199.50 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $194.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.61. The stock has a market cap of $352.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.27, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its 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. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm 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. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ABBV. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped 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, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.82.

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.