Whittier Trust Co. Raises Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 242,308 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,083 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $50,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Imprint Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 56.2% during the fourth quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.81.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $260.88 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $460.92 billion, a PE ratio of 128.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $220.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $220.25. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $184.63 and a one year high of $261.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a $1.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 340.89%.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.