AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Position Cut by Boston Common Asset Management LLC

Boston Common Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,110 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,855 shares during the quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $3,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 109.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,071,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605,758 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 19,122,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,492,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,522,715 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 65.1% during the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,409,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,934,000 after acquiring an additional 950,000 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of AstraZeneca during the 3rd quarter valued at $72,437,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,480,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $816,509,000 after acquiring an additional 524,175 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AZN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upgraded AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Trading Down 0.5 %

AstraZeneca stock opened at $66.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $206.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.87, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.46. AstraZeneca PLC has a one year low of $60.47 and a one year high of $87.68. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $66.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.57.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $13.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.08 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.11 earnings per share 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.