William Blair Issues Optimistic Outlook for AbbVie Earnings

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) – Stock analysts at William Blair upped their Q4 2024 EPS estimates for shares of AbbVie in a research note issued on Monday, November 11th. William Blair analyst M. Phipps now expects that the company will earn $2.96 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $2.95. William Blair 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.

ABBV has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.83.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $170.46 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $301.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.63. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $193.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.84. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $136.30 and a 52-week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue 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 paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AbbVie

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.