National Pension Service Raises Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

National Pension Service lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,934,720 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 114,270 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up 0.7% of National Pension Service’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. National Pension Service owned about 0.22% of AbbVie worth $911,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $223.02 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $224.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $394.15 billion, a PE ratio of 168.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.36. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.39 and a 1-year high of $244.81.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on AbbVie from $261.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $250.00 price target on AbbVie and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Berenberg Bank set a $275.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.37.

About AbbVie

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.