Archford Capital Strategies LLC reduced its stake in shares of AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,162 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $2,393,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AZN. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AstraZeneca in the 2nd quarter worth about $366,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 8,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 150,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,698,000 after buying an additional 49,157 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 457,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,370,000 after buying an additional 21,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 17.44% of the company’s stock.
Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Cowen reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. ValuEngine downgraded shares of AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of AstraZeneca from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Liberum Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Leerink Swann assumed coverage on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.96.
Shares of AZN stock opened at $50.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.55. AstraZeneca plc has a twelve month low of $35.30 and a twelve month high of $51.23. The company has a market capitalization of $131.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.
AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.05. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 8.42% and a return on equity of 38.63%. The company had revenue of $6.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that AstraZeneca plc will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current year.
AstraZeneca Profile
AstraZeneca PLC discovers, develops, and commercializes prescription medicines in the areas of oncology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism, respiratory, autoimmunity, infection, neuroscience, and gastroenterology worldwide. Its marketed products include Arimidex, Casodex/Cosudex, Calquence, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Lynparza, Nolvadex, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology diseases; Atacand1/Atacand HCT/Atacand Plus, Brilinta/Brilique, Crestor, Plendil, Seloken/Toprol-XL, Tenormin, and Zestril for cardiovascular diseases; and Bydureon, Byetta, Farxiga/Forxiga, Kombiglyze XR, Komboglyze, Onglyza, Qtern, Symlin, Xigduo, and Xigduo XR for metabolic diseases.
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