Astrazeneca Plc $AZN Stake Boosted by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 96,702 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,320 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $16,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 32,633,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,503,614,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,786 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Astrazeneca by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,162,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,623,604,000 after purchasing an additional 466,745 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Astrazeneca by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,805,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,517,000 after purchasing an additional 582,183 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Astrazeneca by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 6,129,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807,565 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 13.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,707,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,342,000 after purchasing an additional 660,569 shares in the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AZN. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “sell” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings assumed coverage on Astrazeneca in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a “buy (b)” rating on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.33.

Astrazeneca Trading Up 0.1%

Astrazeneca stock opened at $182.71 on Friday. Astrazeneca Plc has a 12 month low of $132.32 and a 12 month high of $212.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $283.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.88.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. Astrazeneca had a return on equity of 30.86% and a net margin of 17.19%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Astrazeneca Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $1.595 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 156.0%. Astrazeneca’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.17%.

About Astrazeneca

AstraZeneca plc is a global biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, England. Formed through the 1999 merger of Sweden’s Astra AB and the UK’s Zeneca Group, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines across a range of therapeutic areas. AstraZeneca positions itself as R&D-driven, investing in discovery science, clinical development and regulatory processes to bring new therapies to market.

The company’s commercial portfolio and late-stage pipeline emphasize oncology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolic (CVRM) diseases, and respiratory and immunology.