Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Raises Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,897 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,955,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 9.3% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 11,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,049,000 after acquiring an additional 959 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 40.0% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 44.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,802,000 after acquiring an additional 8,640 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in AbbVie by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 193,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $182.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $323.26 billion, a PE ratio of 63.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.75. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $138.01 and a 52 week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Company 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.