Norges Bank Takes Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Norges Bank bought a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBVFree Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 25,668,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,865,055,000. AbbVie comprises 0.6% of Norges Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABBV. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its stake in AbbVie by 115.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 136 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, WestEnd Advisors LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 138 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $217.83 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $181.73 and a 1-year high of $244.81. The stock has a market cap of $384.85 billion, a PE ratio of 107.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBVGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ABBV. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $262.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore set a $235.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.43.

View Our Latest Stock Report on ABBV

Key AbbVie News

Here are the key news stories impacting AbbVie this week:

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,654 shares in the company, valued at $619,868.24. This trade represents a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About AbbVie

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)

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