Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Lowers Position in AstraZeneca PLC $AZN

Key Points

• Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. has significantly reduced its stake in AstraZeneca PLC by 69.1%, lowering its holdings to 13,217 shares valued at approximately $923,000.
• Despite Atria's reduction, other institutional investors like Goldman Sachs and Boston Partners have increased their positions in AstraZeneca, indicating varied investor sentiment around the stock.
• Analysts recently downgraded AstraZeneca's rating from "hold" to "sell," while others set a price target of $86.00, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for the stock.

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. reduced its stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN - Free Report) by 69.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,217 shares of the company's stock after selling 29,527 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.'s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in AstraZeneca by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,647,948 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,003,124,000 after buying an additional 3,224,251 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in AstraZeneca by 35.9% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,036,645 shares of the company's stock valued at $368,712,000 after buying an additional 1,329,166 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in AstraZeneca by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,942,367 shares of the company's stock valued at $364,283,000 after purchasing an additional 261,064 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its stake in AstraZeneca by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,077,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $284,939,000 after purchasing an additional 701,779 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in AstraZeneca by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,003,070 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,387,000 after purchasing an additional 272,537 shares during the period. 20.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded AstraZeneca from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday. Berenberg Bank set a $97.00 price objective on AstraZeneca in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.00.

AstraZeneca Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of AZN opened at $84.69 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $80.23 and a 200 day moving average of $73.85. AstraZeneca PLC has a fifty-two week low of $61.24 and a fifty-two week high of $86.57. The firm has a market cap of $262.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.86.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.09. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 32.84% and a net margin of 14.68%.The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a $0.505 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a yield of 200.0%. AstraZeneca's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.97%.

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.

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