Morse Asset Management Inc Boosts Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,563 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 26.6% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 72,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,351,000 after purchasing an additional 15,284 shares during the period. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 1.3% during the third quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 26,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,153,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its holdings in AbbVie by 38.2% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 107,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,327,000 after buying an additional 29,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in AbbVie by 19.1% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 11,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,269,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. Citigroup lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Guggenheim raised their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $181.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $320.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company’s 50-day moving average is $187.74 and its 200 day moving average is $182.25. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted 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. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

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.