Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Trims Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. cut its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,834 shares of the company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up approximately 1.7% of Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.89.

AbbVie Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of ABBV opened at $164.91 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $291.42 billion, a PE ratio of 57.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $192.04 and its 200-day moving average is $180.78. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.05 and a 12 month 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 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 215.28%.

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.