Legal & General Group Plc Sells 139,058 Shares of Astrazeneca Plc $AZN

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 296,215 shares of the company’s stock after selling 139,058 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $51,986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AZN. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 93.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Astrazeneca by 45.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 37,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after buying an additional 11,690 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Astrazeneca by 54.4% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 10,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 3,618 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in Astrazeneca by 898.4% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 33,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,339,000 after buying an additional 30,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Astrazeneca by 1.2% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 46,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,259,000 after buying an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Astrazeneca Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AZN stock opened at $185.50 on Friday. Astrazeneca Plc has a 1 year low of $137.23 and a 1 year high of $212.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $183.81. The company has a market cap of $287.70 billion, a PE ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.26.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.06. Astrazeneca had a return on equity of 30.86% and a net margin of 17.19%.The business had revenue of $15.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. Research analysts predict that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AZN. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings began coverage on Astrazeneca in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a “buy (b)” rating for the company. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Astrazeneca currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.33.

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.