ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $59.13 Million Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 332,772 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,887 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up 2.4% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest 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 and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after buying an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% in 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 buying an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $172.41 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $175.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.80. The stock has a market cap of $304.67 billion, a PE ratio of 59.86, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 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.