New York Life Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 242,317 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,418 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $55,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,747,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,155,601,000 after purchasing an additional 448,554 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in AbbVie by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,044,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,888,000 after purchasing an additional 151,644 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 401,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,024,000 after purchasing an additional 81,625 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 55,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,885,000 after purchasing an additional 5,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 32,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,484,000 after purchasing an additional 5,427 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $294.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, February 5th. 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 report on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,654 shares in the company, valued at $619,868.24. The trade was a 66.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 38,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,771,510. This trade represents a 36.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $210.95 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.57 and a 12-month high of $244.81. The stock has a market cap of $372.71 billion, a PE ratio of 103.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $210.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $220.17.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 340.89%.

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.