Astrazeneca Plc $AZN Shares Sold by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC trimmed its position in Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 74.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,171 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,415 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $231,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $3,791,051,000 after acquiring an additional 438,709 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 445,014 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,878,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,716,000 after purchasing an additional 432,939 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $1,315,026,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,812 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Astrazeneca by 65.3% during the fourth quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 6,154,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,080,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431,890 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on AZN shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Astrazeneca from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Friday, June 26th. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Friday, April 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Astrazeneca presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.00.

Astrazeneca Stock Performance

NYSE:AZN opened at $168.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $261.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.24. Astrazeneca Plc has a twelve month low of $142.98 and a twelve month high of $212.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $180.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.05. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.06. Astrazeneca had a return on equity of 30.86% and a net margin of 17.19%.The firm had revenue of $15.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.