Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Reduces Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,846 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,407 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for about 1.0% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $27,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Crestline Management LP grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 438.4% during the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 35,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,275,000 after purchasing an additional 28,753 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,664,489,000 after buying an additional 108,993 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in AbbVie by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,705,000 after acquiring an additional 125,568 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Group boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 17,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,190,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $192.27 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The company has a market capitalization of $339.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.50.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The company had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AbbVie Profile

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.