Meyer Handelman Co. Has $27.52 Million Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 154,861 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,621 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $27,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $423,000. Moseley Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. M. Kraus & Co grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 40,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,199,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA increased its holdings in AbbVie by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 12,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,142,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 10,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $171.32 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a market cap of $302.75 billion, a PE ratio of 59.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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. 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 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial cut their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

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.