Townsquare Capital LLC Purchases 2,368 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 140,683 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,368 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $27,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cadence Bank grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 100,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,764,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Carlson Capital Management bought a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $311,000. Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth $1,111,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 11,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at $152,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ABBV shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $181.16 on Wednesday. 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 $137.65 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The company has a market cap of $320.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.90, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

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.