Morningstar Investment Management LLC Takes Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edmp Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 15,607.4% in the fourth quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 5,249,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,483,000 after purchasing an additional 5,216,157 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 426.5% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,652,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $754,155,000 after acquiring an additional 3,768,579 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,022,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,939,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,442,663 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 146.8% in the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,352,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,322,000 after acquiring an additional 804,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,802,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $614,446,000 after acquiring an additional 686,191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 15,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.08, for a total value of $2,440,401.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 809 shares in the company, valued at $123,841.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other AbbVie news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 15,942 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.08, for a total transaction of $2,440,401.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $123,841.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 12,135 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.08, for a total value of $1,857,625.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,588,511.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 128,356 shares of company stock worth $19,901,151. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. SVB Leerink raised AbbVie from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Friday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $169.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Argus downgraded AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on AbbVie from $155.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.40.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.5 %

ABBV traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $137.92. 2,227,537 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,819,565. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $154.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.85. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $134.09 and a 52-week high of $168.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.33 billion, a PE ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.02. AbbVie had a return on equity of 153.92% and a net margin of 13.37%. The firm had revenue of $12.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About AbbVie

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AbbVie, Inc is a research-based biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and sale of pharmaceutical products. It focuses on treating conditions such as chronic autoimmune diseases in rheumatology, gastroenterology, and dermatology, oncology, including blood cancers, virology, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s, metabolic, comprising thyroid disease and complications associated with cystic fibrosis, pain associated with endometriosis, and other serious health conditions.