Naviter Wealth LLC Has $3.19 Million Position in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Naviter Wealth LLC raised its stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 47,328 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,355 shares during the quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $3,188,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AstraZeneca in the third quarter worth about $715,198,000. Manning & Napier Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 281.2% in the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,779,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,180,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,064 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in AstraZeneca by 5.2% during 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 during the period. abrdn plc grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 346.3% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,420,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,696,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 317.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,242,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,136,000 after purchasing an additional 944,765 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered AstraZeneca from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

AZN traded up $0.43 during trading on Monday, hitting $75.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,148,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,226,736. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $234.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.50. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $60.47 and a 12 month high of $76.58.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.01). AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The company had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. AstraZeneca’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.965 dividend. This is a positive change from AstraZeneca’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.47. This represents a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.61%.

About AstraZeneca

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.