Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases New Holdings in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $951,000. AbbVie accounts for 0.3% of Ascension Capital Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $41,306,353,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032,438 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,940,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,494,193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119,274 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 10.4% in 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in AbbVie by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,824,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,900,617,000 after buying an additional 356,394 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,865,055,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ABBV shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. DZ Bank raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $234.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on AbbVie from $273.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.10.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $253.75 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.77 and a fifty-two week high of $261.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $448.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.41.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.18 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $1.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 340.89%.

AbbVie News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting AbbVie this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Canaccord Genuity raised its price target on AbbVie to $282 from $273 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling confidence in further upside for AbbVie Inc. (ABBV). Benzinga report
• Positive Sentiment: AbbVie’s aesthetics business got a boost after Allergan Aesthetics received European Commission approval for Boey, expanding the company’s portfolio in Europe and potentially supporting future revenue growth. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles characterized AbbVie as a strong buy-and-hold name and noted that the stock has recently outperformed the broader market, reinforcing a generally constructive long-term view. Yahoo Finance article
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are watching AbbVie’s Q2 oncology revenue closely, with analysts warning that weakness in Imbruvica may outweigh gains from Venclexta and newer cancer treatments, which could pressure results. Yahoo Finance article

AbbVie Company 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.