Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Increases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBVFree Report) by 321.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 137,214 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 104,651 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for about 1.8% of Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $31,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Key Headlines Impacting AbbVie

Here are the key news stories impacting AbbVie this week:

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of AbbVie 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,771,510. The trade was a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,654 shares in the company, valued at $619,868.24. The trade was a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore cut their price objective on AbbVie from $232.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, February 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $249.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.90.

Check Out Our Latest Report on AbbVie

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $201.24 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $355.83 billion, a PE ratio of 99.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $213.18 and its 200 day moving average is $221.00. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.57 and a fifty-two week high of $244.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBVGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 911.57% and a net margin of 5.79%.The company had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 340.89%.

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)

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