Meridian Management Co. Acquires 74 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Meridian Management Co. raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,328 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the quarter. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $262,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 61.2% during the 3rd quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 216 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on ABBV shares. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.41.

AbbVie Stock Down 12.6 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $174.44 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The business has a 50-day moving average of $194.14 and a 200-day moving average of $180.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $308.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.57, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $136.30 and a 12 month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.