Carillon Tower Advisers, an investment management company, released its “Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The S&P 500 Index experienced 4.3% gains during the second quarter, but the benchmark index’s 15.3% gain at the end of the first half was remarkable. The S&P 500 Index’s record highs in the first half of the year were driven by the extraordinary performance of technology stocks, which were propelled by the artificial intelligence (AI) trend and advancements toward the point at which the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) could begin lowering interest rates. However, there was still a problem with market breadth, with the eight top-performing equities accounting for about 70% of all returns. The strongest sectors by far were communication services and information technology, with the majority of other sectors trading more or less flat. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2024.
Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund highlighted stocks like AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and manufacturers prescription medicine. The one-month return of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) was 7.10%, and its shares gained 28.59% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 30, 2024, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) stock closed at $87.62 per share with a market capitalization of $271.669 billion.
Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund stated the following regarding AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) reported strong first-quarter financials, issued bullish long-term financial goals at the company’s May investor day, and disclosed positive results from a handful of oncology clinical trials during the second quarter.”
A pharmacy worker distributing prescription medicines to patientsreceiving treatment for oncology, cardiovascular, renal, metabolism and respiratory diseases.
AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 49 hedge fund portfolios held AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) at the end of the second quarter which was 46 in the previous quarter. In the first half of 2024, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) experienced an 18% increase in total revenue, fueled by robust demand. While we acknowledge the potential of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we discussed AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) and shared the list of best cancer stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
