Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Purchases 1,087 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 15.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,322 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,698,847,000 after purchasing an additional 992,496 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after buying an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $187.85. The company had a trading volume of 900,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,270,597. The firm has a market cap of $331.72 billion, a PE ratio of 55.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $194.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ABBV. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.