Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Astrazeneca Plc $AZN

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 5,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $949,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trek Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 3,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC now owns 55,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,723,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 78,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,740,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Astrazeneca Stock Down 0.5%

Astrazeneca stock opened at $181.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $282.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.26. Astrazeneca Plc has a fifty-two week low of $132.32 and a fifty-two week high of $212.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $193.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.39.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. Astrazeneca had a return on equity of 30.86% and a net margin of 17.19%. Analysts predict that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AZN. Wall Street Zen upgraded Astrazeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings began coverage on Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a “buy (b)” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Astrazeneca in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Astrazeneca has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.33.

About Astrazeneca

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.