Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Acquires 35,148 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC $AZN

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 111.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 66,643 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,148 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $5,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 1.3% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 41,200,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,879,062,000 after purchasing an additional 538,606 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 0.9% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 21,298,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,488,332,000 after purchasing an additional 196,401 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in AstraZeneca by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,695,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,446,235,000 after purchasing an additional 530,520 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in AstraZeneca by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,167,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $850,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in AstraZeneca by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,046,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,734,000 after purchasing an additional 104,625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AZN shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AstraZeneca from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “sell” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Friday, January 16th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AstraZeneca has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.75.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

AstraZeneca stock opened at $92.95 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.59. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $61.24 and a 12 month high of $96.51. The company has a market cap of $288.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.88, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.05. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 32.89% and a net margin of 16.17%.The firm had revenue of $15.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.75 billion. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

AstraZeneca Company Profile

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led 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’s operations span research and development, large-scale manufacturing, and commercial distribution, with a presence in developed and emerging markets worldwide.

The company focuses on several core therapy areas including oncology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism (CVRM), respiratory and immunology, and rare diseases.