Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Raises Holdings in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,857 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,447 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $20,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Western Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,985 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 264,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,368,000 after purchasing an additional 20,372 shares in the last quarter. Freemont Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1,030.0% in the 4th quarter. Freemont Management S.A. now owns 11,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,582,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300 shares in the last quarter. Rayburn West Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,026,000. Finally, Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC now owns 6,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on AbbVie from $262.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $249.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.10.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE ABBV opened at $210.95 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $210.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $220.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $372.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.32. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.57 and a 12-month high of $244.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 576.45% and a net margin of 5.79%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $1.73 dividend. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 340.89%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 value of $5,147,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 38,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,771,510. This trade represents a 36.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of AbbVie 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $619,868.24. This trade represents a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate 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.