Waldron Private Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 3,199 AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AZN. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in AstraZeneca by 0.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 49,492,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,351,653,000 after buying an additional 358,399 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 5.2% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 22,946,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,553,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,295 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in AstraZeneca in the third quarter worth $715,198,000. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,222,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $693,092,000 after buying an additional 1,561,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in AstraZeneca by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,466,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,328,000 after buying an additional 1,343,939 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered AstraZeneca from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on AstraZeneca in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

AZN stock opened at $68.27 on Wednesday. AstraZeneca PLC has a 1-year low of $60.47 and a 1-year high of $76.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.83. The firm has a market cap of $211.65 billion, a PE ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.07 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 30.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.965 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from AstraZeneca’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.52%.

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.