ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 332,772 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,887 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for approximately 2.4% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $59,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GGM Financials LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% during the third quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% during the third quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Dillon & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. First Citizens Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.5 %

AbbVie stock opened at $172.41 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $175.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.80. The company has a market capitalization of $304.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

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.