Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. Acquires 12,860 Shares of Astrazeneca Plc $AZN

Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 82.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 28,379 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,860 shares during the quarter. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO.’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $4,981,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Astrazeneca by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 32,633,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,503,614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461,786 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Astrazeneca by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,601,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,791,051,000 after purchasing an additional 438,709 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,805,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,517,000 after acquiring an additional 582,183 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 6,129,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807,565 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,707,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,342,000 after acquiring an additional 660,569 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AZN. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays upgraded Astrazeneca from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “sell” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings started coverage on Astrazeneca in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. They issued a “buy (b)” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Astrazeneca in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.33.

Astrazeneca Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:AZN opened at $187.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $290.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $191.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $183.22. Astrazeneca Plc has a 1 year low of $137.23 and a 1 year 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.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Astrazeneca Plc will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current 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.