Rafferty Asset Management LLC Purchases 11,042 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 277,386 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,042 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $49,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. MRA Advisory Group raised its stake in AbbVie by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 3,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This represents a 52.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 5.7%

Shares of ABBV opened at $177.30 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $192.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.16. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $313.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.88, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie 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.