Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 66,091 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 11.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 515,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 66,091 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $40,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 17.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,271,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,151,177,000 after purchasing an additional 9,002,450 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in AstraZeneca in the 1st quarter worth approximately $186,127,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the second quarter worth approximately $188,476,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 750.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,283,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,523,000 after buying an additional 1,132,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 65.1% in the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,409,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,934,000 after acquiring an additional 950,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AZN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Citigroup upgraded shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Barclays upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen raised 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AstraZeneca has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ AZN opened at $77.91 on Tuesday. AstraZeneca PLC has a 1-year low of $60.47 and a 1-year high of $87.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $81.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.18. The company has a market capitalization of $241.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.19, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.47.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

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

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.