AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Acquired by First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,364 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 14.6% in the second quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 14,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,631,000 after purchasing an additional 1,805 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% in the second quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 107,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,029,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 5.9% in the second quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 8,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% in the second quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 131,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536 shares during the period. Finally, M1 Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 14.4% in the second quarter. M1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $230.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.79. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.81 and a 12 month high of $244.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $407.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.94, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. UBS Group set a $251.00 target price on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on AbbVie from $220.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.90.

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.