Astrazeneca Plc $AZN Stake Reduced by Nwam LLC

Nwam LLC trimmed its holdings in Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 50.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,273 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,394 shares during the period. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $843,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,601,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,791,051,000 after purchasing an additional 438,709 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Astrazeneca by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,157,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,537,684,000 after buying an additional 445,014 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Astrazeneca by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,878,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,716,000 after buying an additional 432,939 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 65.3% in the fourth quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 6,154,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,080,160,000 after buying an additional 2,431,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 552.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,547,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $973,603,000 after acquiring an additional 4,697,895 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Astrazeneca Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:AZN opened at $169.08 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $182.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $262.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.24. 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 Plc has a 1-year low of $137.23 and a 1-year high of $212.71.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. Astrazeneca had a return on equity of 30.86% and a net margin of 17.19%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AZN. Weiss Ratings lowered Astrazeneca from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Friday, April 10th. Barclays reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Monday, June 1st. DZ Bank raised shares of Astrazeneca from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Astrazeneca presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.00.

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.