Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,499,351 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,197,432 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises 0.5% of Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.76% of AbbVie worth $3,084,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 180,779,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,306,353,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032,438 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,629,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,179,099,000 after buying an additional 4,190,487 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth $5,865,055,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,133,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,772,345,000 after acquiring an additional 129,247 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 457.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,536,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,714,000 after acquiring an additional 8,646,424 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE:ABBV opened at $215.64 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $181.73 and a 52-week high of $244.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.58. The company has a market capitalization of $381.00 billion, a PE ratio of 106.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $262.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.43.

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.