Leerink Partnrs Issues Negative Forecast for AbbVie Earnings

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) – Investment analysts at Leerink Partnrs dropped their FY2024 EPS estimates for AbbVie in a research note issued to investors on Monday, January 6th. Leerink Partnrs analyst D. Risinger now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $10.06 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $10.94. Leerink Partnrs currently has a “Strong-Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for AbbVie’s current full-year earnings is $10.96 per share. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for AbbVie’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.10 EPS.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Daiwa Capital Markets cut AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $178.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $315.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $179.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.34.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp raised its holdings in AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.