First Merchants Corp Sells 946 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

First Merchants Corp trimmed its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,793 shares of the company’s stock after selling 946 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AbbVie by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on ABBV. Guggenheim lifted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.35.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $193.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $178.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 257.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by 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.