Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Sells 998 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,327 shares of the company’s stock after selling 998 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in AstraZeneca during the 1st quarter worth $186,127,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AstraZeneca during the 2nd quarter worth about $188,476,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 750.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,283,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,523,000 after buying an additional 1,132,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 65.1% in the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,409,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,934,000 after buying an additional 950,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. 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. 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 report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AstraZeneca has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

AZN stock opened at $76.87 on Wednesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $81.59 and its 200-day moving average is $77.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.34 billion, a PE ratio of 37.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. AstraZeneca PLC has a 1 year low of $60.47 and a 1 year high of $87.68.

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. The business had revenue of $12.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 13.11%. The company’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 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.08 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. 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.