AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Sold by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lowered its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 75,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,613 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $15,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 180,779,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,306,353,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032,438 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,629,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,179,099,000 after purchasing an additional 4,190,487 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth about $5,865,055,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,499,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,084,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,133,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,772,345,000 after purchasing an additional 129,247 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $294.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore set a $235.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.43.

AbbVie Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $224.81 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $181.73 and a 12-month high of $244.81. The stock has a market cap of $397.19 billion, a PE ratio of 110.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $209.43 and a 200 day moving average of $219.30.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Trending Headlines about AbbVie

Here are the key news stories impacting AbbVie this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AbbVie won U.K. NHS backing for Elahere, its ovarian cancer therapy, and Reuters reported the British drug-cost watchdog recommended the treatment for a hard-to-treat form of ovarian cancer, improving access and potential sales in a key market. British drug-cost watchdog recommends use of AbbVie’s ovarian cancer therapy
• Positive Sentiment: The company also received European Commission approval for Aquipta to treat migraine, adding a second approved migraine indication and broadening the drug’s commercial opportunity. AbbVie receives EC approval for Aquipta to treat migraine
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage also highlighted AbbVie’s oncology strategy after Decnupaz approval, signaling that management is building a larger antibody-drug conjugate pipeline that could create longer-term upside. Does Decnupaz Approval Validate ABBV’s ADC Strategy in Oncology?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent clinical-study updates, including completion of an upadacitinib study in China and a bioavailability study for ABBV-932, suggest steady pipeline progress, but they are not immediate revenue catalysts. AbbVie Completes Real World Upadacitinib Study in China: What Investors Should Watch AbbVie Advances ABBV-932 With Completed Bioavailability Study
• Negative Sentiment: AbbVie also ended an early-stage lung cancer trial for ABBV-647, which trims one potential oncology growth driver and adds some caution around pipeline execution. AbbVie Ends Early Lung Cancer Trial for ABBV-647

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.