AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Shares Bought by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 618,569 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 558 shares during the period. AstraZeneca accounts for approximately 2.1% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $41,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AZN. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in AstraZeneca by 51.8% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $977,000 after acquiring an additional 4,919 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in AstraZeneca by 113.0% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 95,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,444,000 after buying an additional 50,750 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in AstraZeneca by 317.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,242,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,136,000 after buying an additional 944,765 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in AstraZeneca by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 163,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,979,000 after buying an additional 49,541 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of AstraZeneca in the third quarter worth $2,241,000. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of AstraZeneca from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on AstraZeneca in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Up 0.3 %

AZN traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.55. 4,735,660 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,158,956. AstraZeneca PLC has a fifty-two week low of $60.47 and a fifty-two week high of $76.56. The company has a market cap of $212.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.70, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.88.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.01). AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 30.19%. The business had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.965 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from AstraZeneca’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.47. This represents a yield of 2.3%. AstraZeneca’s payout ratio is currently 100.52%.

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.