AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Releases Q1 2024 Earnings Guidance

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Guggenheim raised their target price on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. HSBC lowered AbbVie from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $167.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $177.43.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of ABBV stock traded down $3.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $177.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,891,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,647,010. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.80 and its 200-day simple 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $314.01 billion, a PE ratio of 65.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $10,539,491.71. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Aspect Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.