TrustBank Takes $7.02 Million Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

TrustBank purchased a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,021,000. AbbVie comprises 2.9% of TrustBank’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 448,554 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 151,644 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 25.5% in the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 401,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,024,000 after purchasing an additional 81,625 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 10.5% in the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 55,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,885,000 after purchasing an additional 5,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 32,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,484,000 after purchasing an additional 5,427 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE ABBV opened at $212.79 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $181.73 and a 52 week high of $244.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $375.96 billion, a PE ratio of 104.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $208.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $219.70.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,221,518.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,654 shares in the company, valued at $619,868.24. The trade was a 66.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $234.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $249.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.43.

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.