Astrazeneca Plc $AZN Shares Sold by Prospera Financial Services Inc

Prospera Financial Services Inc lowered its position in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,014 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,209 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $19,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 4.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 32,633,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,503,614,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,786 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 2.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,162,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,623,604,000 after acquiring an additional 466,745 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 9.4% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,805,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,517,000 after acquiring an additional 582,183 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 41.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 6,129,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 13.1% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,707,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,342,000 after acquiring an additional 660,569 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Astrazeneca in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings assumed coverage on Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. They issued a “buy (b)” rating for the company. DZ Bank raised Astrazeneca from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Friday, April 10th. 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.33.

Astrazeneca Price Performance

NYSE:AZN opened at $187.24 on Friday. Astrazeneca Plc has a one year low of $137.23 and a one year high of $212.71. 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 stock has a market cap of $290.39 billion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $191.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.96.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.29 billion during 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Astrazeneca Plc will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.