Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Decreases Stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. reduced its stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 78.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,886 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,792 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,271,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,151,177,000 after purchasing an additional 9,002,450 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,782,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,342,367,000 after buying an additional 164,183 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 14,684,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $988,972,000 after buying an additional 4,122,965 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,424,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,617,000 after buying an additional 889,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,404,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $633,361,000 after buying an additional 233,015 shares in the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays raised shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $88.00.

AstraZeneca Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AZN traded down $0.08 on Tuesday, reaching $79.25. 5,683,560 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,365,379. AstraZeneca PLC has a fifty-two week low of $60.47 and a fifty-two week high of $82.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.69 and a 200 day moving average of $72.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $245.72 billion, a PE ratio of 38.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.45.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $12.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.11% and a return on equity of 29.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. AstraZeneca’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.61%.

AstraZeneca Company 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.