Abacus Planning Group Inc. Boosts Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 16.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,520 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,459,385,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 25,841.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,144,382,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,284 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,190,951,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after buying an additional 4,466,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after buying an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $189.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $335.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.50. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $218.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $184.24 and its 200 day moving average is $187.09.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.19.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company 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.