William Blair Has Bullish Forecast for AbbVie Q4 Earnings

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) – William Blair boosted their Q4 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for AbbVie in a report released on Monday, November 11th. William Blair analyst M. Phipps now forecasts that the company will earn $2.96 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast 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.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on ABBV. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.83.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $169.63 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $136.30 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The company has a market cap of $299.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.84.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GGM Financials LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% in the third quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 yield of 3.87%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

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.