Daily Stock Analysis: AstraZeneca

Image Source: Pexels

Astra Zeneca PLC has the ticker symbol AZN and is a member of the Healthcare sector as a generic drug manufacturer. This is my first report on Astra Zeneca for this Vista portfolio.  

A merger between Astra of Sweden and the Zeneca Group of the United Kingdom formed AstraZeneca in 1999. 

The company sells branded drugs across several major therapeutic classes, including gastrointestinal, diabetes, cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer, and immunology. 

The majority of sales come from international markets with the United States representing close to one-third of its sales.

It has a collaboration agreement with Daiichi Sankyo to develop and commercialize DS-1062 for the treatment of trophoblast cell-surface antigen 2 (TROP2) tumor; and AliveCor, Inc. to develop non-invasive potassium monitoring solutions. 

AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.

Three key data points gauge dividend equities or funds like Astra Zeneca PLC:

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Those three basic keys best tell whether a company has made, is making, and will make money. 

AZN Price

Astra Zeneca PLC's price per share closed at $49.00 yesterday. One year ago its price was $43.10. Price per share has increased about 13.7% from the midst of the COVID market slump. 

Should Astra Zeneca's stock trade in the range of $45.00 to $55.00 this year, its recent $49.00 price might rise by $5,00 to reach $54.00 by April 7, 2022. My estimate is in line with Ychart's historic multiple price calculation. It is however 9.00 lower that the median of seven estimates from analysts tracking the stock.

AZN Dividends

AstraZeneca PLC's most recently declared a semi-annual dividend paid March 29th added to its previous dividend totaled $1.40 annually and yields 2.86% at yesterday's $49,00 closing price. AZN has paid semi-annual variable dividends for 28 years.

AZN Returns

Adding the $1.40 annual AZN anticipated dividend to my $5.00 price upside estimate shows a $6.40  potential gross gain, per share, to be reduced by any costs to trade the shares.  

Put little under $1,000.00 today in AZN at $49.00 per share and we'd buy 20 shares of HYPMY stock.

A $10 broker fee (if charged) would be paid half at purchase and half at a sale and might cost us about $0.50 per share.

Subtract that maybe $0.50 brokerage cost from my estimated $6.40 gross gain per share results in a net gain of $5.90 X 20 shares = $118.00 for an 11.8% net gain on a $980.00 investment.

Astra Zeneca PLC shows a possible 11.8% net gain including a 2.86% dividend yield. 

Over the next year at this time, a $1000 investment in AZN could generate $28.60 in cash dividends. And a single share bought at yesterday's closing price was $49! So, if AZN is your kind of healthcare investment, their price is nearly double the annual dividend income from $1,000 invested. This suggests waiting for the price to pull back to under $40.00 before investing.

All of the estimates above are speculation based on the past history of Astra Zeneca PLC. Only time and money invested in this stock will determine its worth.