William Blair Equities Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) – Equities researchers at William Blair boosted their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for AbbVie in a research report issued on Monday, April 29th. William Blair analyst T. Lugo now anticipates that the company will earn $11.31 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $11.06. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for AbbVie’s current full-year earnings is $11.19 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for AbbVie’s FY2025 earnings at $12.04 EPS.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 165.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.46 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on ABBV. Truist Financial upped their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.31.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of ABBV opened at $162.69 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $288.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.28, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie has a one year low of $130.96 and a one year high of $182.89.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,229,888,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in AbbVie by 29,922.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $899,186,000 after purchasing an additional 6,012,281 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $499,955,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 44,988,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,971,796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,542,463 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,451,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,774,569,000 after buying an additional 1,702,415 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

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.