Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 548,671 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,049,995 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 548,671 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.10% of AstraZeneca worth $218,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AZN. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in AstraZeneca by 34.7% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 21,807,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,560,742,000 after purchasing an additional 5,617,054 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in AstraZeneca by 25.3% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 21,545,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,495,465,000 after acquiring an additional 4,348,916 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in AstraZeneca by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,222,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $693,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,194 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 5.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 10,179,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,574,000 after purchasing an additional 499,916 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,932,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,328,000 after purchasing an additional 189,382 shares in the last quarter. 15.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AZN. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 25th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Friday, September 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AZN opened at $63.80 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.12. The company has a market cap of $197.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.60. AstraZeneca PLC has a one year low of $61.73 and a one year high of $76.56.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 8th. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $11.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.55 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 30.30%. AstraZeneca’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca PLC will post 3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Profile

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacture, andcommercialization of prescription medicines. The company's marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Andexxa/Ondexxya, Atacand, Atacand HCT, Atacand Plus, Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, Xigduo/Xigduo, and Zestril XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Accolate, Accoleit, Vanticon, Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Bricanyl Respules and Turbuhaler, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Rhinocort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tezspire for respiratory and immunology; and Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases.