AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Shares Acquired by Lincoln National Corp

Lincoln National Corp raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 32,726 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the quarter. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $2,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AstraZeneca in the third quarter worth $715,198,000. Manning & Napier Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 281.2% in the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,779,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,180,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,064 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 5.2% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 22,946,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,553,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,295 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 346.3% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,420,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,490 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 317.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,242,431 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,136,000 after acquiring an additional 944,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AZN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research 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.com, AstraZeneca presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

AZN stock traded up $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $76.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,022,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,309,970. AstraZeneca PLC has a twelve month low of $60.47 and a twelve month high of $77.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $68.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.42. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $238.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.41, a PEG 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.01). AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 13.30%. The firm had revenue of $12.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.965 dividend. This is an increase 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 presently 94.61%.

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.