Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Boosts Stake in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5,195.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 419,784 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 411,856 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $95,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 58.7% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 68,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,573,000 after buying an additional 25,198 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 13,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,180,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 344,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,673,000 after buying an additional 7,698 shares in the last quarter. Platform Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $322,000. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on ABBV shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America raised shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $234.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $294.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.43.

AbbVie News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting AbbVie this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AbbVie’s ovarian cancer drug Elahere received a green light from the UK’s NHS, expanding access in a hard-to-treat cancer market and reinforcing the drug’s commercial potential. British drug-cost watchdog recommends use of AbbVie’s ovarian cancer therapy
• Positive Sentiment: AbbVie also won European approval for Aquipta as a migraine treatment, adding another approved indication and supporting future sales growth for its neurology franchise. AbbVie receives EC approval for Aquipta to treat migraine
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst-style coverage highlighted AbbVie as a “cheap stock” and a potentially undervalued name, which can support investor sentiment around the stock’s longer-term upside. 5 Best Cheap Stocks to Buy for Beginners
• Neutral Sentiment: AbbVie completed several study updates, including a real-world upadacitinib study in China and a bioavailability study for ABBV-932, which are supportive for the pipeline but not immediate commercial catalysts. AbbVie Completes Real World Upadacitinib Study in China AbbVie Advances ABBV-932 With Completed Bioavailability Study
• Negative Sentiment: AbbVie ended an early lung-cancer trial for ABBV-647, which slightly trims one oncology upside avenue, even though it does not change the broader growth story. AbbVie Ends Early Lung Cancer Trial for ABBV-647

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $224.81 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $181.73 and a 1-year high of $244.81. The stock has a market cap of $397.19 billion, a PE ratio of 110.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.30.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.