Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Acquires 1,231 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,253 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up about 0.8% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $23,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $204,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in AbbVie by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its position in AbbVie by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 1,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of AbbVie stock traded up $1.61 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $176.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,847,865 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,616,134. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $312.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.55. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.