Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Lowers Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lessened its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 555,077 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,330 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up about 0.6% of Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $127,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,747,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,155,601,000 after acquiring an additional 448,554 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,044,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,888,000 after acquiring an additional 151,644 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 25.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 401,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,024,000 after acquiring an additional 81,625 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 55,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,885,000 after acquiring an additional 5,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 32,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,484,000 after acquiring an additional 5,427 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ABBV. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. 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 research note on Thursday, April 30th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.43.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $209.57 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $180.25 and a 12-month high of $244.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $370.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.24, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $219.92.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The business had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $1.73 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 340.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total value of $1,221,518.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $619,868.24. This represents a 66.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,137 shares in the company, valued at $8,771,510. This trade represents a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.