Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $4.20 Billion Position in AstraZeneca PLC $AZN

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its position in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,086,881 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,265,092 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.84% of AstraZeneca worth $4,195,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 189.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 24,026,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,247,000 after buying an additional 15,722,197 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in AstraZeneca by 30.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,647,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,003,124,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224,251 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,329,166 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,692,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,464,000 after purchasing an additional 952,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,681,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,436,000 after purchasing an additional 390,407 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Berenberg Bank set a $97.00 target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.00.

AstraZeneca Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ AZN opened at $80.52 on Thursday. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $61.24 and a 12 month high of $87.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.72 billion, a PE ratio of 30.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $72.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.08.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 32.84% and a net margin of 14.68%.The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.08 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a $0.505 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 200.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.