AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Sold by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC lessened its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 367,597 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,911 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for about 3.2% of Welch Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $83,992,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,747,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,155,601,000 after buying an additional 448,554 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,004,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,779,426,000 after buying an additional 493,420 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 457.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,536,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,714,000 after buying an additional 8,646,424 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 10,508,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,418,909,000 after buying an additional 1,414,621 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,675,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,241,363,000 after buying an additional 408,426 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:ABBV opened at $209.00 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $168.54 and a 12 month high of $244.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $219.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $223.67. The firm has a market cap of $369.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.38.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.06. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 1,579.75% and a net margin of 6.91%.The company had revenue of $16.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. AbbVie has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.370-14.570 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.970-3.010 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.73 per share. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 293.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on AbbVie from $289.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays assumed coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, February 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on AbbVie from $242.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.00.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $5,147,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,771,510. The trade was a 36.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total value of $1,221,518.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $619,868.24. This trade represents a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About AbbVie

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.