Trust Co. of Vermont Sells 2,907 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Trust Co. of Vermont trimmed its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 169,583 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,907 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises about 1.5% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $30,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 3.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after buying an additional 511,470 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the third 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 buying an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $171.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $303.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. 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. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

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.