ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Dividend Strategy” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The market recovered in 2023 following a sharp decline in 2022, driven by excitement about artificial intelligence and an improving forecast for interest rates. The strategy underperformed the benchmark S&P 500 Index, in the fourth quarter. The strategy gained from eleven sectors it invested during the quarter on an absolute basis. Sector allocation detracted, while stock selection contributed positively on a relative basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
In its Q4 2023 investor letter, ClearBridge Dividend Strategy featured stocks such as AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN). Headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is a biopharmaceutical company. On January 4, 2024, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) stock closed at $68.78 per share. One-month return of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) was 8.74%, and its shares lost 2.85% of their value over the last 52 weeks. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) has a market capitalization of $213.241 billion.
In its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter, ClearBridge Dividend Strategy stated the following regarding AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN):
“In the second half of 2023 — as we were selling low-growth, high-multiple stocks and taking advantage of oversold conditions in infrastructure, real estate and utilities — we also found opportunities in overlooked areas of health care. After adding Gilead in the third quarter, we bought AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in the fourth quarter. Each of these stocks present distinct investment cases, but both are reasonably valued and have limited patent expiry or pipeline risk. Gilead’s strength comes from its dominant franchise in HIV. It offers lower growth, but it yields nearly 4% and trades at 11x earnings. AstraZeneca possesses a diversified portfolio of pharmaceuticals, which should deliver double-digit earnings growth, yet it trades at just 16x earnings. These stocks were underwritten individually, but collectively we like the idea of increasing our exposure to defensive and growing health care names at below-market multiples.”
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 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 49 hedge fund portfolios held AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) at the end of third quarter which was 41 in the previous quarter.
We discussed AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in another article and shared the list of most promising dividend stocks according to analysts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
