Astrazeneca’s (AZN) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research note issued on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on AZN. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “sell” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Friday. DZ Bank upgraded Astrazeneca from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Astrazeneca from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.33.

Astrazeneca Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AZN traded down $4.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $186.80. 351,979 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,484,442. The stock has a market cap of $289.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.10, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.25. Astrazeneca has a twelve month low of $137.23 and a twelve month high of $212.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $184.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. Astrazeneca had a return on equity of 30.86% and a net margin of 17.19%. On average, research analysts forecast that Astrazeneca will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Astrazeneca

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Astrazeneca by 93.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Astrazeneca by 45.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 37,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 11,690 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Astrazeneca by 54.4% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 10,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 3,618 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 898.4% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 33,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,339,000 after purchasing an additional 30,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 1.2% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 46,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,259,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

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.