Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Astrazeneca Plc $AZN

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 56.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 487,032 shares of the company’s stock after selling 638,220 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $96,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Astrazeneca by 552.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,547,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $973,603,000 after buying an additional 4,697,895 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA bought a new stake in shares of Astrazeneca in the 1st quarter valued at about $675,263,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new stake in Astrazeneca during the 1st quarter valued at about $473,782,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. boosted its holdings in Astrazeneca by 32,441.5% during the 1st quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. now owns 2,445,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,158,000 after acquiring an additional 2,437,657 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Astrazeneca by 65.3% during the 4th quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 6,154,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,080,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,431,890 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AZN. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Astrazeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.00.

Key Stories Impacting Astrazeneca

Here are the key news stories impacting Astrazeneca this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AstraZeneca agreed to pay up to $1.5 billion for global rights to Zegfrovy (sunvozertinib) from Dizal, adding an already marketed EGFR therapy to its oncology pipeline and expanding its presence in non-small cell lung cancer, including key markets such as the U.S. and China. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The deal includes a $600 million upfront payment and could provide a new commercial growth driver, which may help offset recent worries around AstraZeneca’s pipeline and support longer-term revenue growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports repeated the same transaction details, reinforcing the strategic importance of the licensing move but adding little new information beyond the initial announcement. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor-alert stories highlighted pending investigations tied to AstraZeneca and referenced the earlier Wainua trial miss, which had pressured shares after the Phase III CARDIO-TTransform study failed its primary endpoint in ATTR cardiomyopathy. Article Title

Astrazeneca Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE AZN opened at $168.27 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.52. Astrazeneca Plc has a 12 month low of $137.23 and a 12 month high of $212.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $260.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.24.

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

Astrazeneca Company 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.