O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Acquires 43,082 Shares of Astrazeneca Plc $AZN

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 331,384 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,082 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $58,158,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CenterBook Partners LP increased its holdings in Astrazeneca by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 34,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,107,000 after buying an additional 3,537 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Astrazeneca by 2,851.1% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 2,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 2,623 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Astrazeneca in the 4th quarter worth about $175,000. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in Astrazeneca by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,565,000 after buying an additional 1,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Astrazeneca in the 4th quarter worth about $498,000. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Astrazeneca Trading Up 0.1%

Astrazeneca stock opened at $186.06 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.34. The company has a market cap of $288.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.25. Astrazeneca Plc has a 52-week low of $137.23 and a 52-week high of $212.71. 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 (NYSE:AZN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. Analysts predict that Astrazeneca Plc will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AZN. DZ Bank upgraded Astrazeneca from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “sell” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings started coverage on Astrazeneca in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a “buy (b)” rating for the company. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Astrazeneca presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.33.

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.