AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Shares Sold by STF Management LP

STF Management LP trimmed its holdings in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 4.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,254 shares of the company’s stock after selling 441 shares during the period. STF Management LP’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in AstraZeneca by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,271,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,151,177,000 after acquiring an additional 9,002,450 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in AstraZeneca by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,782,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,342,367,000 after acquiring an additional 164,183 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in AstraZeneca by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 14,684,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $988,972,000 after acquiring an additional 4,122,965 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in AstraZeneca by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,424,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $708,617,000 after acquiring an additional 889,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in AstraZeneca by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,376,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $631,487,000 after acquiring an additional 205,185 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Citigroup raised shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Barclays raised shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of AstraZeneca from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

Shares of AZN opened at $79.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $245.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.47. AstraZeneca PLC has a fifty-two week low of $60.47 and a fifty-two week high of $87.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50-day moving average is $81.75 and its 200-day moving average is $76.35.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $12.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 13.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

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

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.