National Bank of Canada FI Sells 290,414 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN - Free Report) by 36.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 512,196 shares of the company's stock after selling 290,414 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $35,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AZN. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of AstraZeneca during the third quarter valued at approximately $715,198,000. Manning & Napier Group LLC boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 281.2% in the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,779,212 shares of the company's stock valued at $187,180,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,064 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 5.2% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 22,946,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,553,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,295 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 346.3% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,420,876 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 317.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,242,431 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,136,000 after acquiring an additional 944,765 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AstraZeneca Trading Down 0.8 %

AZN traded down $0.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $75.76. The stock had a trading volume of 6,456,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,356,485. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $68.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.47. AstraZeneca PLC has a 1-year low of $60.47 and a 1-year high of $76.80.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN - Get Free Report) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $12.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.07 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 13.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.965 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is presently 94.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of AstraZeneca from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AstraZeneca presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.00.

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.