Bell Bank Has $13.20 Million Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Bell Bank trimmed its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 66,817 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,705 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for approximately 1.6% of Bell Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Bell Bank’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $13,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in AbbVie by 249.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after buying an additional 3,120,310 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth about $367,372,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America increased their price objective on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.83.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $170.46 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $301.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.29, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $136.30 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $193.61 and its 200-day moving average is $180.91.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 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.