Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Invests $208,000 in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. City Holding Co. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 40,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,345,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 46,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,481,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Anderson Hoagland & Co. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Anderson Hoagland & Co. now owns 2,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 6,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at $261,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.47.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock traded down $1.87 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $186.99. 2,309,445 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,286,104. The firm has a market capitalization of $330.20 billion, a PE ratio of 55.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $194.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.74. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $199.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

AbbVie 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.