HighTower Advisors LLC Has $169.40 Million Holdings in Astrazeneca Plc $AZN

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 965,247 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,012 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $169,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZN. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 32,633,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,503,614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461,786 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Astrazeneca by 2.3% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,162,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,623,604,000 after acquiring an additional 466,745 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Astrazeneca by 9.4% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,805,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,517,000 after acquiring an additional 582,183 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Astrazeneca by 41.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 6,129,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807,565 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Astrazeneca by 13.1% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,707,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,342,000 after buying an additional 660,569 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AZN. Weiss Ratings began coverage on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a “buy (b)” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Astrazeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Astrazeneca has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.33.

Astrazeneca Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of AZN stock opened at $184.69 on Wednesday. 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $191.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $286.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.26.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.06. Astrazeneca had a net margin of 17.19% and a return on equity of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $15.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

More Astrazeneca News

Here are the key news stories impacting Astrazeneca this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo won FDA approval for Enhertu in two additional early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer settings, expanding the drug’s addressable market and strengthening the company’s oncology pipeline. AZN, Daiichi’s Enhertu Gets FDA Nod for Two New Breast Cancer Settings
• Positive Sentiment: The FDA also approved Baxfendy (baxdrostat), AstraZeneca’s first-in-class hypertension drug, which could become a meaningful new growth driver in a large cardiovascular market and may support expectations for multibillion-dollar peak sales. AstraZeneca’s blood pressure drug wins U.S. approval
• Neutral Sentiment: Some commentary on the FDA wins raised questions about valuation and the pace of long-term growth, suggesting investors may balance the near-term enthusiasm against execution and pricing concerns. AstraZeneca’s New FDA Wins Raise Questions On Growth And Valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: Erste Group Bank slightly lowered its FY2026 EPS estimate for AstraZeneca to $10.17 from $10.25, though that remains close to the consensus of $10.26 and does not materially change the earnings outlook.

Astrazeneca 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.