Profund Advisors LLC Buys 7,561 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Profund Advisors LLC boosted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,010 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,561 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $8,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 180,779,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,306,353,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032,438 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in AbbVie by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,004,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,779,426,000 after buying an additional 493,420 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in AbbVie by 457.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,536,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,714,000 after buying an additional 8,646,424 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in AbbVie by 15.6% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 10,508,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,418,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 4.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,675,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,241,363,000 after acquiring an additional 408,426 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total transaction of $1,221,518.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,654 shares in the company, valued at $619,868.24. This represents a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $5,147,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,771,510. This trade represents a 36.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $209.57 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $180.25 and a 52-week high of $244.81. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $209.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $370.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $1.73 per share. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 340.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Barclays began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, February 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $249.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.43.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.