William Blair Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for AbbVie

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) – Equities researchers at William Blair increased their Q4 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of AbbVie in a note issued to investors on Monday, November 11th. William Blair analyst M. Phipps now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $2.96 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $2.95. William Blair currently has a “Strong-Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for AbbVie’s current full-year earnings is $10.95 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for AbbVie’s FY2026 earnings at $13.16 EPS.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on ABBV. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.89.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $164.91 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.42 billion, a PE ratio of 57.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie has a fifty-two week low of $137.05 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Saturna Capital Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 486.1% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after purchasing an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after buying an additional 2,657 shares during the period. PGGM Investments grew its stake in AbbVie by 308.1% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,624,000 after buying an additional 24,756 shares during the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,282,000 after acquiring an additional 6,065 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 8.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,377,000 after acquiring an additional 5,993 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

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.