First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,314 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,480,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,159,000 after buying an additional 2,446 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 21.3% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,936,000 after buying an additional 4,633 shares during the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in AbbVie by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,709,000 after buying an additional 6,139 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV opened at $159.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $282.63 billion, a PE ratio of 58.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $174.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $160.74.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

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.