Kovack Advisors Inc. Reduces Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Kovack Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,569 shares of the company’s stock after selling 282 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,698,847,000 after purchasing an additional 992,496 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.83.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock traded up $0.31 on Wednesday, hitting $171.40. 1,955,827 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,399,431. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $194.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.30 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its 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 return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 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.