AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Shares Bought by Stanley Laman Group Ltd.

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,329 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,675 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $4,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 9,002,450 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,782,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,342,367,000 after buying an additional 164,183 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 14,684,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $988,972,000 after buying an additional 4,122,965 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in AstraZeneca by 9.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AstraZeneca by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,404,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $633,361,000 after acquiring an additional 233,015 shares during the period. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AZN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays raised shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

Shares of AZN stock traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $84.41. 3,550,027 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,362,012. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $79.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.34. The company has a market cap of $261.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.38, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.45. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $60.47 and a 12 month high of $85.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.89.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 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 firm had revenue of $12.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.04%.

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.