Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Purchases Shares of 1,031 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $3,229,888,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $499,955,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 44,988,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,971,796,000 after buying an additional 2,542,463 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 39.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,422,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,252,000 after buying an additional 2,390,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,451,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,774,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,702,415 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $172.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $305.05 billion, a PE ratio of 51.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year high of $182.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 179.47% and a net margin of 11.02%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.46 EPS. Research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ABBV shares. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. HSBC raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.64.

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.