Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 781,858 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 59.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 781,858 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up 0.8% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $414,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.47.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $189.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $334.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.08. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $135.85 and a one year high of $199.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

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.