Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 14th, 2023

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN – Get Rating) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,902 shares of the company’s stock after selling 302 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in AstraZeneca in the 4th quarter valued at $1,124,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of AstraZeneca in the fourth quarter worth about $265,000. Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AstraZeneca in the 4th quarter worth about $231,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in AstraZeneca by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 63,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,276,000 after buying an additional 5,391 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.42% of the company’s stock.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

Shares of AZN opened at $74.77 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.52. The company has a market cap of $231.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. AstraZeneca PLC has a twelve month low of $52.65 and a twelve month high of $74.83.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 28.63% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $11.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. As a group, analysts predict that AstraZeneca PLC will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 24th were given a $0.985 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2%. This is an increase from AstraZeneca’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 23rd. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is presently 180.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AZN. Argus lifted their price target on shares of AstraZeneca from $75.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on AstraZeneca from GBX 118 ($1.46) to GBX 126 ($1.56) in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. StockNews.com started coverage on AstraZeneca in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Thursday, January 5th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AstraZeneca from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.50.

AstraZeneca Profile

(Get Rating)

AstraZeneca Plc is a holding company, which engages in the research, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company was founded on June 17, 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.