AstraZeneca PLC $AZN Shares Bought by Richardson Financial Services Inc.

Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 59.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 398 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $28,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 58.4% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 13,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 4,811 shares during the period. Robbins Farley acquired a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the second quarter worth approximately $1,857,000. SCS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the first quarter worth approximately $3,066,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 13.1% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 706 shares during the period. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 6.0% during the second quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 78,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,472,000 after buying an additional 4,449 shares during the period. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Berenberg Bank set a $97.00 price objective on AstraZeneca in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

AZN opened at $84.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $262.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.67. AstraZeneca PLC has a 1-year low of $61.24 and a 1-year high of $86.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $79.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.46.

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, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.09. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.08 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 32.84% and a net margin of 14.68%.The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

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

AstraZeneca Company 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.