Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Grows Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,210 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,392 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in AbbVie by 59.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,088,000 after purchasing an additional 781,858 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp raised its stake in AbbVie by 486.1% during the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after buying an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $171.32 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $302.75 billion, a PE ratio of 59.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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 return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change 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 yield of 3.83%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

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.