Blair William & Co. IL Has $17.90 Million Position in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its holdings in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 2.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 229,484 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,920 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $17,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

AstraZeneca Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AstraZeneca stock opened at $78.90 on Friday. AstraZeneca PLC has a 1 year low of $60.47 and a 1 year high of $87.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $81.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.46. The company has a market capitalization of $244.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

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

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders 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 (DPR) is currently 48.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AZN shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Citigroup upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on AstraZeneca in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AstraZeneca currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

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.