AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Purchased by Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. raised its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 395,451 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,839 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for about 1.4% of Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $82,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $206.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.81 and a 52-week high of $218.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.08. The company has a market capitalization of $365.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.50.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $227.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.95.

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.