AstraZeneca PLC $AZN Stock Position Lowered by Oak Family Advisors LLC

Oak Family Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 168,514 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,228 shares during the quarter. AstraZeneca comprises approximately 3.7% of Oak Family Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Oak Family Advisors LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $11,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 30.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,647,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,124,000 after buying an additional 3,224,251 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in AstraZeneca by 35.9% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,036,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,712,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329,166 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in AstraZeneca by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,942,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $364,283,000 after purchasing an additional 261,064 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in AstraZeneca by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,077,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,939,000 after purchasing an additional 701,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in AstraZeneca by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,003,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,387,000 after purchasing an additional 272,537 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Berenberg Bank set a $97.00 target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AstraZeneca presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AZN opened at $74.13 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.89. The company has a market cap of $229.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. AstraZeneca PLC has a 52 week low of $61.24 and a 52 week high of $82.41.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.09. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.08 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 32.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a $0.505 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a dividend yield of 200.0%. AstraZeneca’s payout ratio is 37.97%.

AstraZeneca Company 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.