Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 5,863 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 257,513 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,863 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $45,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 59.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,088,000 after acquiring an additional 781,858 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $193.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $178.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.91. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a market cap of $342.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.64, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 257.91% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Company 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.