Meridian Management Co. Acquires 74 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Meridian Management Co. increased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,328 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the quarter. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $262,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after buying an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in AbbVie by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after acquiring an additional 992,496 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after acquiring an additional 134,239 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 12.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,434 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Bank of America raised their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.41.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $174.44 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $136.30 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market capitalization of $308.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.57, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $194.14 and its 200 day moving average is $180.83.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid 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 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.28%.

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.