WINTON GROUP Ltd Invests $965,000 in Astrazeneca Plc $AZN

WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $965,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 344.6% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,478,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,841,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695,793 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 41.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 6,129,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807,565 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 11,190.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,806,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,874 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 64.8% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,783,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 4.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 32,633,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,503,614,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,786 shares in the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AZN shares. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Astrazeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Barclays reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Friday, April 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Astrazeneca currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.33.

Astrazeneca Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of AZN stock opened at $183.36 on Wednesday. Astrazeneca Plc has a 12-month low of $137.23 and a 12-month high of $212.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $190.49 and its 200 day moving average is $185.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $284.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.25.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.06. Astrazeneca had a net margin of 17.19% and a return on equity of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $15.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. Research analysts expect that Astrazeneca Plc will post 9.53 earnings per share for the current year.

About Astrazeneca

AstraZeneca plc is a global biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, England. Formed through the 1999 merger of Sweden’s Astra AB and the UK’s Zeneca Group, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines across a range of therapeutic areas. AstraZeneca positions itself as R&D-driven, investing in discovery science, clinical development and regulatory processes to bring new therapies to market.

The company’s commercial portfolio and late-stage pipeline emphasize oncology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolic (CVRM) diseases, and respiratory and immunology.