New Century Financial Group LLC Sells 552 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

New Century Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 10.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 552 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AZN. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in AstraZeneca by 86.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 223,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,061,000 after purchasing an additional 11,892 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 166,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,245,000 after purchasing an additional 43,464 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,390,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,681,000 after buying an additional 95,652 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZN has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of AstraZeneca from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays upgraded shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Stock Up 1.0 %

AstraZeneca stock opened at $78.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company’s 50-day moving average is $81.65 and its 200-day moving average is $77.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.92 billion, a PE ratio of 38.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.47. AstraZeneca PLC has a fifty-two week low of $60.47 and a fifty-two week high of $87.68.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.04%.

About AstraZeneca

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.