Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires New Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 9,028 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,604,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,159,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Doliver Advisors LP grew its position in AbbVie by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 5,276 shares of the company's stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,197 shares of the company's stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Erste Group Bank upgraded AbbVie to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.45.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 in the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Stock Up 2.2 %

ABBV traded up $4.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $209.83. 6,524,849 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,725,871. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $371.19 billion, a PE ratio of 87.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $197.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.91.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

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.