Richardson Financial Services Inc. Grows Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 21.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,518 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northstar Group Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Northstar Group Inc. now owns 8,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV opened at $187.10 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.81 and a 52-week high of $218.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $330.49 billion, a PE ratio of 79.62, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.53.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 412.03% and a net margin of 7.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 279.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.29.

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.