Short Interest in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Drops By 8.3%

AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 7,400,000 shares, a decrease of 8.3% from the November 15th total of 8,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Institutional Trading of AstraZeneca

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AZN. MONECO Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AstraZeneca during the second quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 350.0% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in AstraZeneca by 1.5% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 178,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,950,000 after buying an additional 2,706 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in AstraZeneca by 197.9% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 4,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 2,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management lifted its stake in AstraZeneca by 20.0% in the second quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 18,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,410,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

AstraZeneca Trading Down 0.5 %

AZN opened at $66.58 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.45. 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 has a 12 month low of $60.47 and a 12 month high of $87.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.72.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $13.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.08 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 12.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Company 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.