AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Releases Q1 2024 Earnings Guidance

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) issued an update on its first quarter 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 2.180-2.220 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 2.330. The company issued revenue guidance of -. AbbVie also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 10.970-11.170 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. HSBC downgraded AbbVie from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their price target for the company from $167.00 to $156.00 in a report on Monday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded AbbVie from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $173.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 11th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV traded down $3.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $177.34. 5,891,414 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,647,010. The company’s 50-day moving average is $175.80 and its 200 day moving average is $158.87. AbbVie has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $182.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $314.01 billion, a PE ratio of 65.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. AbbVie’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.60 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 11.15 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $10,539,491.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at $10,895,641.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 89,097.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,719,514,000 after buying an additional 29,170,366 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,033,348,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 31,571,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,102,311,000 after purchasing an additional 4,785,277 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 426.5% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,652,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $754,155,000 after buying an additional 3,768,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $530,070,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.