Wall Street Zen Downgrades AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) to Buy

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AZN. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Friday. Nine investment 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.75.

AstraZeneca Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AstraZeneca stock opened at $94.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.91. AstraZeneca has a 1 year low of $61.24 and a 1 year high of $96.51. The company has a market capitalization of $292.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.34.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in AstraZeneca by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 191,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,156,000 after purchasing an additional 17,548 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 68.2% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 1,899,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,730,000 after buying an additional 770,417 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley acquired a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the second quarter valued at about $1,857,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 15.2% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,167,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $850,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC raised its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 78,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,472,000 after acquiring an additional 4,449 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.