SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,039 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 66.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,602 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,039 shares during the quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AZN. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 10.6% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 105,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,144,000 after buying an additional 10,103 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 6.7% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 13,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 18.5% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 5,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 5.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 887,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,083,000 after buying an additional 45,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 11.5% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 9,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $658,000 after buying an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZN traded up $0.55 during trading on Friday, reaching $76.35. 9,026,349 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,666,863. AstraZeneca PLC has a 52-week low of $60.47 and a 52-week high of $76.80. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $68.38 and a 200-day moving average of $66.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.47.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.01). AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The firm had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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 is a boost from AstraZeneca’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a yield of 2.3%. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio is 94.61%.

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.