Astrazeneca Plc $AZN Shares Sold by Marks Group Wealth Management Inc

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 51.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,442 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,345 shares during the period. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $3,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Astrazeneca by 546.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,667,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,026,000 after buying an additional 5,635,812 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 552.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,547,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $973,603,000 after buying an additional 4,697,895 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA acquired a new stake in shares of Astrazeneca during the 1st quarter valued at $675,263,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of Astrazeneca during the 1st quarter valued at $473,782,000. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 32,441.5% during the 1st quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. now owns 2,445,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,158,000 after acquiring an additional 2,437,657 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Astrazeneca

Here are the key news stories impacting Astrazeneca this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AstraZeneca agreed to pay up to $1.5 billion for global rights to Zegfrovy (sunvozertinib) from Dizal, adding an already marketed EGFR therapy to its oncology pipeline and expanding its presence in non-small cell lung cancer, including key markets such as the U.S. and China. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The deal includes a $600 million upfront payment and could provide a new commercial growth driver, which may help offset recent worries around AstraZeneca’s pipeline and support longer-term revenue growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports repeated the same transaction details, reinforcing the strategic importance of the licensing move but adding little new information beyond the initial announcement. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor-alert stories highlighted pending investigations tied to AstraZeneca and referenced the earlier Wainua trial miss, which had pressured shares after the Phase III CARDIO-TTransform study failed its primary endpoint in ATTR cardiomyopathy. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AZN shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. HSBC lowered Astrazeneca from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Monday, June 1st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.00.

Astrazeneca Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE AZN opened at $168.27 on Thursday. Astrazeneca Plc has a twelve month low of $137.23 and a twelve month high of $212.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $260.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $182.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.52.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last released 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 company had revenue of $15.29 billion during 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.26 EPS for the current year.

Astrazeneca Company Profile

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.