West Family Investments Inc. Purchases 706 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

West Family Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,225 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 706 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in AbbVie by 249.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120,310 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth approximately $367,372,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,744,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,956,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,201 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.89.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $165.70 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $137.14 and a one year high of $207.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $191.44 and a 200 day moving average of $181.08. 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 has a market capitalization of $292.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.73, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio 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.