AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) is ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s 8th Largest Position

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 317,236 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up 2.5% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $49,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $36,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 39.5% in the third quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 286 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth $45,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock traded up $1.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $166.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,532,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,636,134. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $175.44 and a 200 day moving average of $160.10. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.96 and a 12-month high of $182.89. The stock has a market cap of $294.67 billion, a PE ratio of 60.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.11%.

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.