AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Plans $0.49 Semi-Annual Dividend

AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) declared a Semi-Annual dividend on Thursday, July 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.49 per share on Monday, September 9th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th.

AstraZeneca has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.2% per year over the last three years. AstraZeneca has a payout ratio of 41.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect AstraZeneca to earn $4.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.97 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.1%.

AstraZeneca Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AstraZeneca stock opened at $78.13 on Friday. AstraZeneca has a 52-week low of $60.47 and a 52-week high of $80.86. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.89.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 29.66% and a net margin of 13.11%. The business had revenue of $12.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AZN. Argus boosted their price objective on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on AstraZeneca in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays upgraded AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.00.

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.