Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC Purchases 471 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,198 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at about $646,000. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the first quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,129,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Hemenway Trust Co LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 12.2% during the first quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 31,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,799,000 after acquiring an additional 3,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:ABBV traded up $2.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $203.78. 552,780 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,297,798. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $194.29 and its 200-day moving average is $180.10. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.85 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $359.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 226.99% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. Citigroup increased their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.00.

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.