Marietta Investment Partners LLC Acquires 18,111 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Key Points

• Marietta Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. by 69.9% during the first quarter, purchasing an additional 18,111 shares, bringing its total holdings to 44,037 shares.
• Institutional investors now own 70.23% of AbbVie’s stock, with GAMMA Investing LLC dramatically boosting its holdings by 25,841.6%.
• AbbVie’s quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $2.46, surpassing analysts' expectations, and the company recently declared a $1.64 quarterly dividend with a yield of 3.45%.

Marietta Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 69.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,037 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 18,111 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 2.2% of Marietta Investment Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Marietta Investment Partners LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $9,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 25,841.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,144,382,000 after acquiring an additional 10,195,284 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 32.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,246,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,064,773,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,156 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in AbbVie by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,824,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,878,236,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,769,102 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,735,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,102,273 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. Bank of America raised their target price on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen cut AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.29.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $190.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $336.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $187.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.70. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.81 and a 52-week high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 412.03%. The business's revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.15%.

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.

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