Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Trims Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 57.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,570 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,752 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.00.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $174.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $309.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average of $176.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.