Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Acquires Shares of 3,000 AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in AstraZeneca by 40.6% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in AstraZeneca by 6.8% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 60,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,096,000 after buying an additional 3,831 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in AstraZeneca by 15.2% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 18,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after buying an additional 2,447 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in AstraZeneca during the first quarter valued at $225,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in AstraZeneca by 36.3% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 482,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,704,000 after buying an additional 128,616 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on AZN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on AstraZeneca from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AstraZeneca presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Stock Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ AZN opened at $65.63 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $73.44 and its 200 day moving average is $77.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $60.47 and a 12 month high of $87.68. The stock has a market cap of $203.49 billion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.47.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $13.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.08 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 12.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. Research analysts predict that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Profile

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company’s marketed products include Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Lynparza, Calquence, Enhertu, Orpathys, Truqap, Zoladex, Faslodex, Farxiga, Brilinta, Lokelma, Roxadustat, Andexxa, Crestor, Seloken, Onglyza, Bydureon, Fasenra, Breztri, Symbicort, Saphnelo, Tezspire, Pulmicort, Bevespi, and Daliresp for cardiovascular, renal, metabolism, and oncology.