Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Has $9.64 Million Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,018 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises approximately 2.2% of Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $9,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,586,948,000 after purchasing an additional 983,888 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in AbbVie by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after buying an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $4,459,385,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 11.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $190.85 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $218.66. The company has a market capitalization of $337.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.21, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 279.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. BNP Paribas raised shares of AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Bank of America boosted their price objective on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.