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

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 59.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 781,858 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for about 0.8% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.12% of AbbVie worth $414,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.47.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $189.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $334.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.08. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.85 and a fifty-two week high of $199.95.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

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 paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.