Grimes & Company Inc. Sells 454 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Grimes & Company Inc. trimmed its stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 8.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,226 shares of the company’s stock after selling 454 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 237.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 123,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,331,000 after buying an additional 86,610 shares during the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in AstraZeneca during the third quarter worth about $474,000. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its position in AstraZeneca by 16.8% in the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 9,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,430 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in AstraZeneca by 100.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 4,193 shares during the period. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC raised its position in AstraZeneca by 15.3% in the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AstraZeneca has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AZN traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $77.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,664,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,364,924. The company has a 50-day moving average of $77.52 and a 200-day moving average of $70.35. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $60.47 and a 12 month high of $80.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $241.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.48.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.08. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The firm had revenue of $12.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.92 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current 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.