Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 10,550 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Key Points

• Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its AbbVie stake by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 10,550 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 261,398 shares worth about $59.7 million.
• AbbVie posted better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.65 versus the $2.59 estimate and revenue of $15 billion versus $14.72 billion expected, while revenue rose 12.4% year over year.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive, with several analysts raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and average target price of $253.43.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 261,398 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,550 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in AbbVie were worth $59,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV now owns 5,852 shares of the company's stock worth $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Weil Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% in the third quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 2,026 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Hardin Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Hardin Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,321 shares of the company's stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 473 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantum Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,376 shares of the company's stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on AbbVie from $262.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on AbbVie from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $253.43.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $212.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $375.67 billion, a PE ratio of 104.74, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.32. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $208.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $181.73 and a 1 year high of $244.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for 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 was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total value of $1,221,518.80. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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