AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Shares Sold by Mutual Advisors LLC

Mutual Advisors LLC lowered its stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,706 shares of the company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $654,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZN. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the third quarter valued at approximately $715,198,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AstraZeneca in the 4th quarter valued at $254,290,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 407.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,093,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,553,000 after purchasing an additional 3,286,137 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 683.3% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,814,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,222,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $693,092,000 after buying an additional 1,561,194 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AZN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on AstraZeneca in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded AstraZeneca from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, HSBC began coverage on AstraZeneca in a report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AZN opened at $68.26 on Thursday. AstraZeneca PLC has a 1 year low of $60.47 and a 1 year high of $76.56. The company has a market capitalization of $211.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.01). AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 30.19% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. AstraZeneca’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.965 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from AstraZeneca’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.47. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.52%.

AstraZeneca Profile

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company's marketed products include Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Lynparza, Calquence, Enhertu, Orpathys, Truqap, Zoladex, Faslodex, Farxiga, Brilinta, Lokelma, Roxadustat, Andexxa, Crestor, Seloken, Onglyza, Bydureon, Fasenra, Breztri, Symbicort, Saphnelo, Tezspire, Pulmicort, Bevespi, and Daliresp for cardiovascular, renal, metabolism, and oncology.