Dividend Stock Portfolio: 5 Stock Picks by Hedge Funds

4. AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 82

Dividend Yield as of November 10: 4.88%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) is a research-based global pharmaceutical company that was split from Abbot Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in January 2013 and now has become bigger than its parent. Since the spin-off, AbbVie has continued the trend of increasing its annual dividend like Abbott Laboratories has done and is also a part of the Dividend Aristocrat List for increasing its annual dividend for the past 49 consecutive years.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) offers a dividend yield that is more than three times higher than the average of the S&P 500 stocks. In the last three years, dividends have increased by 13% and the payout ratio stands at 41%. The company is behind popular drugs like Humira, Skyrizi, and Rinyoq.

In a research note issued on November 1, David Risinger, an analyst at Morgan Stanley increased the price target on AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) from $116 to $124 and maintained an Overweight rating on the stock following a “solid quarter,” on the back of strong performance of the aesthetics division.

Of the 873 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 82 held a stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) at the end of Q2 2021 in comparison to 72 hedge funds in the previous quarter. This reflects the peaking interest of hedge funds in the healthcare company.