Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. Sells 298 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC $AZN

Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. reduced its stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,575 shares of the company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the period. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $1,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AstraZeneca by 14,797.3% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,322,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,306,000 after acquiring an additional 2,307,047 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in AstraZeneca by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 17,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 5,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 7,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 67,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,683,000 after buying an additional 10,267 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Berenberg Bank set a $97.00 target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AstraZeneca currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AZN opened at $85.31 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $264.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.07, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.36. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $61.24 and a 12 month high of $85.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $78.04 and its 200 day moving average is $73.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

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

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.