10 Best FTSE Dividend Stocks To Buy Now

2. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 46

AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is a multinational pharmaceutical and biotech company, based in Cambridge, UK. Pharmaceutical companies are in a race to boost their annual revenue targets by 2030 significantly. AstraZeneca’s rival, Pfizer, expects to grow its annual revenue by $45 billion by 2023. Given its 2023 annual revenue of $58.5 billion, this growth would push the company’s total revenue to over $103 billion. This means that Pfizer is aiming to return to its peak performance of 2022 when its annual revenue surpassed $100 billion due to the high demand for coronavirus vaccines. On the other hand, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) expects to generate $80 billion in annual revenues by 2030, in addition to launching 20 new medicines during this timeframe. The company is gaining confidence to do so from the strong performance of its oncology segment, which showed a 26% year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2024. While the numbers appear hopeful, the outcomes of scientific research are inherently uncertain. Furthermore, revenue forecasts can be influenced by competitive pressures and pricing dynamics. Though analysts commend AstraZeneca PLC’s (NASDAQ:AZN) enthusiasm and acknowledge that the company has met its set targets before, they believe it’s important to carefully consider industry dynamics before making ambitious claims.

That said, AstraZeneca PLC’s (NASDAQ:AZN) investments in research and development (R&D) may play a crucial role in reaching this objective. In fact, R&D accounted for 23% of the company’s revenue in 2023, up from 22% in the previous year. In addition to this, the company does not face severe challenges from its debt position, as its total debt is much less than that of Pfizer and it will have several more prominent medicines available on the market by 2030. With a forward P/E multiple of 18x, AZN appears attractively priced due to its recent earnings and forecasts.

AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) currently pays an annual dividend of $3.10 per share, having raised it by 7% in April this year. With a dividend yield of 3.04%, AZN is one of the best FTSE dividend stocks on our list.

At the end of March, 46 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN), down from 48 in the previous quarter. The collective value of these stakes is over $2.1 billion.