Apollon Wealth Management LLC Purchases 4,499 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,970 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,499 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $1,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the 3rd quarter valued at about $715,198,000. Manning & Napier Group LLC increased its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 281.2% during the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,779,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,180,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,064 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 22,946,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,553,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,295 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 346.3% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,420,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,696,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in AstraZeneca by 317.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,242,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,136,000 after acquiring an additional 944,765 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZN has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on AstraZeneca in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AstraZeneca currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:AZN traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $76.82. The company had a trading volume of 1,153,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,311,389. AstraZeneca PLC has a 1 year low of $60.47 and a 1 year high of $77.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $238.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.41, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.42.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $12.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.07 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 30.42%. AstraZeneca’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.965 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from AstraZeneca’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.47. This represents a dividend yield of 2.3%. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.61%.

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.