Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Increases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,477 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up about 0.9% of Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crestline Management LP boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 438.4% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 35,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,275,000 after buying an additional 28,753 shares during the period. Narus Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 25.3% during the first quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,664,489,000 after purchasing an additional 108,993 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in AbbVie by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,705,000 after acquiring an additional 125,568 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $189.50 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.81 and a 12-month high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $334.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.53.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 279.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ABBV shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.29.

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.