Waverly Advisors LLC Sells 118,483 Shares of Astrazeneca Plc $AZN

Waverly Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 49.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 119,336 shares of the company’s stock after selling 118,483 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $23,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,601,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,791,051,000 after acquiring an additional 438,709 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,157,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,537,684,000 after purchasing an additional 445,014 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,878,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,716,000 after purchasing an additional 432,939 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 546.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,667,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,026,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,812 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank acquired a new stake in Astrazeneca during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,202,714,000. 20.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZN has been the subject of several recent research reports. DZ Bank upgraded Astrazeneca from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Astrazeneca from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Astrazeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.00.

Astrazeneca Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Astrazeneca stock opened at $168.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $261.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Astrazeneca Plc has a 12-month low of $142.98 and a 12-month high of $212.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $180.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.02.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. Astrazeneca had a net margin of 17.19% and a return on equity of 30.86%. On average, analysts forecast that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.