HHM Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Position in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

HHM Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 37.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 770 shares of the company’s stock after selling 462 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $60,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AZN. AGF Management Ltd. raised its stake in AstraZeneca by 63.5% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,303,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,665,000 after purchasing an additional 506,465 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 9.6% in the second quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 417,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,557,000 after buying an additional 36,685 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 10.7% in the second quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 16,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,296,000 after buying an additional 1,607 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 69.7% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 44,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,455,000 after buying an additional 18,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in AstraZeneca by 75.9% during the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,006,000 after acquiring an additional 11,102 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AZN. Argus raised their target price on shares of AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on AstraZeneca from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AstraZeneca currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

Shares of AstraZeneca stock opened at $80.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $249.69 billion, a PE ratio of 39.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. AstraZeneca PLC has a 52 week low of $60.47 and a 52 week high of $87.68. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.99.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $12.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.11% and a return on equity of 29.34%. AstraZeneca’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a yield of 1.8%. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.04%.

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.