Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in AstraZeneca PLC $AZN

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,283 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 982 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $2,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 1.9% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 7,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 0.5% in the first quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 28,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 3.4% in the first quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 4,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 59.8% in the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 0.7% in the first quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 23,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank set a $97.00 price objective on AstraZeneca in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Down 0.6%

AstraZeneca stock opened at $84.53 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $262.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.36. AstraZeneca PLC has a 52 week low of $61.24 and a 52 week high of $86.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $79.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.46. 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 (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.09. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.08 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 32.84% and a net margin of 14.68%.AstraZeneca’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.505 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a yield of 200.0%. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.97%.

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.