Simmons Bank Trims Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Simmons Bank decreased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,573 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,507 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up 0.9% of Simmons Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Simmons Bank’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $12,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.06.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $171.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.30 and a 1-year high of $207.32. The company has a market cap of $302.36 billion, a PE ratio of 59.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $194.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.83.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. 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 3.83%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

AbbVie Company 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.