Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Boosts Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 597,740 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,996 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $118,042,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $221,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in AbbVie by 220.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 608,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,758,000 after buying an additional 418,540 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 69.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 224,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,866,000 after buying an additional 92,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,900,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. 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. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock opened at $183.09 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $323.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.57, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.63. 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 simple moving average of $188.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.59. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.65 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 disclosed 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 represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio 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.