Quilter Plc Decreases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Quilter Plc cut its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,469 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,208 shares during the period. Quilter Plc’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in AbbVie by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,088,000 after purchasing an additional 781,858 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after purchasing an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa America downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $190.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $177.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.69. The stock has a market cap of $336.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.45, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results 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 257.91% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.