Comerica Bank Trims Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Key Points

• Comerica Bank cut its stake in AbbVie by 4.0% in Q4, selling 31,250 shares and leaving it with 753,358 shares worth $172.14 million (about 0.7% of its portfolio and its 21st largest holding).
• FDA Complete Response Letter issued for AbbVie's trenibotulinumtoxinE cites manufacturing/process issues, delaying potential commercialization and creating near‑term revenue and regulatory uncertainty.
• Company insiders also sold stock recently: EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares (~$5.15M) and SVP David R. Purdue sold 5,230 shares (~$1.22M), leaving insiders with just 0.06% ownership.

Comerica Bank lessened its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 753,358 shares of the company's stock after selling 31,250 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for approximately 0.7% of Comerica Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Comerica Bank's holdings in AbbVie were worth $172,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 23.6% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 57,076 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,215,000 after buying an additional 10,891 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $720,000. Railway Pension Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 33.0% in the third quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 853,949 shares of the company's stock valued at $197,723,000 after buying an additional 211,800 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 17.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,044,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $241,888,000 after buying an additional 151,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the third 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $5,147,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 38,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,771,510. This represents a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total transaction of $1,221,518.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at $619,868.24. This trade represents a 66.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

AbbVie News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting AbbVie this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AbbVie announced a major strategic investment: a $1.4 billion, AI-enabled manufacturing campus in Durham, NC that will create hundreds of permanent jobs and supports capacity for immunology, neuroscience and oncology medicines. This strengthens manufacturing footprint and long-term growth/production capacity. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Canaccord initiated coverage with a Buy and $262 price target (recent coverage highlighted AbbVie as a buy on pullback), providing bullish analyst support and upside from current levels. Analyst upgrades can buoy sentiment and attract inflows. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: AbbVie struck an exclusive licensing deal with Haisco for development of pain medicines, expanding its pipeline and potential addressable market for pain therapeutics. Partnership deals can add optionality to future revenue. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street previews and model-level estimates for Q1 (sales and key metric breakdowns) are circulating ahead of AbbVie’s April 29 earnings; these projections set expectations traders will use for the report. Meeting or beating estimates could stabilize the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and media continue to discuss AbbVie as a dividend-growth candidate and a long-term defensive healthcare holding; this maintains baseline investor interest but is unlikely to move shares sharply near-term. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The U.S. FDA issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) for AbbVie’s trenibotulinumtoxinE (TrenibotE) — citing manufacturing/process issues rather than new clinical trials. AbbVie said it will respond and believes it can address comments, but the CRL delays potential commercialization and near-term revenue expectations for the neurotoxin program. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple outlets report the CRL is tied to manufacturing concerns; while AbbVie noted no additional clinical studies were requested, regulatory manufacturing issues create uncertainty on timing and cost to obtain approval — a near-term headwind for sentiment. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $253.19.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $198.71 on Monday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $176.57 and a one year high of $244.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $216.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $222.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $351.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.38.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 6.91% and a negative return on equity of 1,579.75%. The firm had revenue of $16.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. AbbVie's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. AbbVie has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.370-14.570 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.970-3.010 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is 293.22%.

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.

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