New drugs will spur AbbVie’s dividend

Article Excerpt

ABBVIE INC. $203 is still a buy. The company (New York symbol ABBV; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $365.4 billion; Dividend yield: 3.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.abbvie.com) makes biopharmaceuticals, with leading positions in immunology, oncology, aesthetics, neuroscience and eye care. With the February 2025 payment, AbbVie raised your quarterly dividend by 5.8%, to $1.64 a shares from $1.55. The new annual rate of $6.56 yields a solid 3.2%. In August 2024, the company paid $8.7 billion for Cerevel Therapeutics, which is developing treatments for neurological illnesses. That helped lift its revenue in the three months ended December 31, 2024, by 5.6%, to $15.10 billion from $14.30 billion a year earlier. However, higher interest and research costs cut earnings before one-time items, by 22.5%, to $3.84 billion, or $2.16 a share, from $4.96 billion, or $2.79. AbbVie is still a buy. buy. …