Northern Trust Corp Purchases 189,294 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. by 0.9%, owning over 22 million shares valued at approximately $4.61 billion, making it the 21st largest position in Northern Trust's portfolio.
• Several institutional investors have significantly raised their positions in AbbVie, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its stake by 25,841.6% in the first quarter.
• AbbVie reported a 6.6% year-over-year revenue increase to $15.42 billion for the last quarter, although its EPS of $2.97 missed the analyst consensus of $3.24.

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 22,013,920 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 189,294 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for about 0.7% of Northern Trust Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.24% of AbbVie worth $4,612,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its holdings in AbbVie by 197.6% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 179,440 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 119,141 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY bought a new stake in AbbVie during the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the first quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen cut AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets raised AbbVie from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $214.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Daiwa America raised AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $214.95.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded up $0.3910 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $209.5410. 5,240,439 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,674,303. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $192.10 and a 200-day moving average of $192.68. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $370.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.78, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The company had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. AbbVie's payout ratio is 312.38%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.