Clarius Group LLC Sells 385 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC $AZN

Clarius Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 2.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,454 shares of the company’s stock after selling 385 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AZN. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AstraZeneca by 30.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,647,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,124,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224,251 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 406.9% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,020,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,517,000 after buying an additional 1,621,974 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 35.9% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,036,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,712,000 after buying an additional 1,329,166 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 650.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,234,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,761,000 after buying an additional 1,070,223 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 33.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,807,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,853,000 after buying an additional 948,659 shares during the period. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AZN. Berenberg Bank set a $97.00 target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AZN opened at $85.31 on Friday. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12-month low of $61.24 and a 12-month high of $85.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.58 billion, a PE ratio of 32.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $78.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.07.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.09. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 32.84%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.505 dividend. This represents a yield of 200.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is 37.97%.

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.