Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 251,650 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,248 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $47,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after acquiring an additional 992,496 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after acquiring an additional 134,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.2 %

ABBV opened at $203.55 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The stock has a market cap of $359.54 billion, a PE ratio of 70.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.60. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

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.