AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Issues Q1 2024 Earnings Guidance

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

AbbVie Price Performance

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

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 227.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ABBV. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded AbbVie from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $173.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $177.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $2,509,001.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,065 shares in the company, valued at $4,802,413.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $2,509,001.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,802,413.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 21,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,842 shares during the period. Aspect Partners LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. O Dell Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $118,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,032,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 293,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,526,000 after buying an additional 3,499 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently 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.