Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Grows Position in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,338 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $1,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in AstraZeneca in the 3rd quarter worth about $715,198,000. Manning & Napier Group LLC lifted its stake in AstraZeneca by 281.2% in the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,779,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,180,000 after buying an additional 2,050,064 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 5.2% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 22,946,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,553,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,295 shares during the period. abrdn plc grew its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 346.3% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,420,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake 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. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AZN shares. 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, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AstraZeneca has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

AZN opened at $76.35 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.17 and a 200-day moving average of $66.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.89. AstraZeneca PLC has a 52-week low of $60.47 and a 52-week high of $76.80. The company has a market cap of $236.72 billion, a PE ratio of 37.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.47.

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

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.965 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from AstraZeneca’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.47. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.