Channing Global Advisors LLC Has $448,000 Stock Holdings in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Channing Global Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,649 shares of the company’s stock after selling 847 shares during the quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AZN. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in AstraZeneca during the 3rd quarter worth $715,198,000. Manning & Napier Group LLC grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 281.2% during the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,779,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,180,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,064 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 22,946,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,553,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,295 shares during the period. abrdn plc grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 346.3% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,420,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,490 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 317.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,242,431 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,136,000 after acquiring an additional 944,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

AstraZeneca Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:AZN traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $75.09. 2,961,002 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,218,413. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.64. AstraZeneca PLC has a 52 week low of $60.47 and a 52 week high of $75.81. The company has a market cap of $232.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.50.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $12.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.07 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 30.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.965 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from AstraZeneca’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of AstraZeneca from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, AstraZeneca presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.00.

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.