Howland Capital Management LLC Acquires 4,924 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Key Points

• Howland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. by 20.9% in Q1, holding 28,503 shares valued at approximately $5.97 million.
• AbbVie reported a missed EPS estimate of $2.97 for the last quarter, while its revenue was above expectations at $15.42 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.5% and a significant payout ratio of 279.15%.

Howland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 20.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,503 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,924 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company's stock worth $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,824,626 shares of the company's stock worth $3,878,236,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299,645 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company's stock worth $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,410,277 shares of the company's stock worth $2,915,990,000 after purchasing an additional 959,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,058,706 shares of the company's stock worth $2,142,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882,780 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. BNP Paribas upgraded AbbVie to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $212.81.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV traded up $6.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $195.17. 8,081,230 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,440,562. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $188.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.17. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $163.81 and a one year high of $218.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The firm has a market cap of $344.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.50.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 518.10%. The company had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is 279.15%.

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.