AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Purchased by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,159 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,093 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,298,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,910,186,000 after buying an additional 3,380,842 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,178,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,240,169,000 after acquiring an additional 924,761 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 26,783,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,970,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,517,222 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,288,200,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 41.8% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 9,337,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,733,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,753,312 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $250.00 target price on shares of AbbVie and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $289.00 price objective (up previously from $284.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $258.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on AbbVie from $261.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.37.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $223.02 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.39 and a 12-month high of $244.81. The company has a market cap of $394.15 billion, a PE ratio of 168.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $224.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $218.24.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.09. AbbVie had a return on equity of 3,216.47% and a net margin of 4.00%.The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.