CCM Investment Advisers LLC Raises Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

CCM Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,244 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up about 1.6% of CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $14,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after acquiring an additional 511,470 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 6.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after purchasing an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV traded down $2.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $176.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,795,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,468,906. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $179.04 and its 200-day moving average is $184.34. The firm has a market cap of $311.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.78%.

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.