Astrazeneca Plc $AZN Shares Sold by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 827,094 shares of the company’s stock after selling 213,033 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $145,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Astrazeneca by 4.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 32,633,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,503,614,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,786 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Astrazeneca by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,601,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,791,051,000 after acquiring an additional 438,709 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Astrazeneca by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,157,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,537,684,000 after acquiring an additional 445,014 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Astrazeneca by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,878,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,716,000 after acquiring an additional 432,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Astrazeneca by 9.4% during the third 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AZN. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Astrazeneca presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.33.

Astrazeneca Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AZN opened at $178.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $277.28 billion, a PE ratio of 26.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.25. Astrazeneca Plc has a 12 month low of $137.23 and a 12 month high of $212.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.98.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. Astrazeneca had a net margin of 17.19% and a return on equity of 30.86%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Astrazeneca Plc will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Astrazeneca 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.