ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 3,805 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 337,792 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises 2.8% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $78,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballew Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 28.4% during the third quarter. Ballew Advisors Inc now owns 1,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth approximately $262,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 25,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,898,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Planning LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in AbbVie by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 113,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,378,000 after purchasing an additional 9,811 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $230.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $406.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 174.38, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.36. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.39 and a 12-month high of $244.81. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $226.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.09. AbbVie had a net margin of 4.00% and a return on equity of 3,216.47%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. AbbVie has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.320-3.360 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th will be issued a $1.73 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 496.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $250.00 target price on shares of AbbVie and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. HSBC raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on AbbVie from $261.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.84.

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.