Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 4,139 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its position in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 61.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,876 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,139 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AstraZeneca in the second quarter worth about $203,000. Nilsine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 22.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 9,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,714 shares during the period. Davidson Investment Advisors grew its stake in AstraZeneca by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors now owns 215,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,682 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 45.0% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its holdings in AstraZeneca by 78.7% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 2,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 999 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

AstraZeneca Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AZN opened at $87.62 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $80.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $271.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.95, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.47. 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 PLC has a 1 year low of $60.47 and a 1 year high of $87.68.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $12.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 13.11%. AstraZeneca’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on AstraZeneca from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup raised AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Argus upped their price target on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on AstraZeneca in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AstraZeneca has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

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.