Conning Inc. Sells 9,167 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Conning Inc. trimmed its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 156,914 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,167 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up approximately 1.2% of Conning Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Conning Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $35,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. Chelsea Counsel Co. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 115.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 136 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WestEnd Advisors LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 160.4% in the 4th quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Berenberg Bank set a $275.00 price target on AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $232.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.10.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV stock opened at $210.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $372.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.92, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.32. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $210.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $220.17. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.57 and a fifty-two week high of $244.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 576.45% and a net margin of 5.79%.The company’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 340.89%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 38,137 shares in the company, valued at $8,771,510. This represents a 36.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $619,868.24. This represents a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.