Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 893 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 168,013 shares of the company’s stock after selling 893 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $26,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,480,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 13.0% in the third quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,446 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 21.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after purchasing an additional 4,633 shares in the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opinicus Capital Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,296,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $162.69 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $288.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.28, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.10. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 165.18%. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.31.

About AbbVie

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.