Ascent Capital Management LLC Makes New $237,000 Investment in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ascent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. EnRich Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 196.4% in the 4th quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 197.6% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 179,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 119,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $190.74 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $187.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.78. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.81 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $336.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 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.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. AbbVie had a return on equity of 412.03% and a net margin of 7.31%. The business had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $194.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.29.

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.