Astrazeneca Plc $AZN Shares Bought by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) by 43.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,059 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,247 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $8,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZN. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Astrazeneca by 344.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,478,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,841,000 after buying an additional 2,695,793 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 valued at $470,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807,565 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 11,190.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,806,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790,874 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,783,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,487,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 4.7% in 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 in the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Astrazeneca Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE AZN opened at $187.10 on Wednesday. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $191.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $183.36. The company has a market capitalization of $290.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.26. Astrazeneca Plc has a 12 month low of $137.23 and a 12 month high of $212.71.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $15.29 billion for 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, sell-side analysts expect that Astrazeneca Plc will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Friday, April 10th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Astrazeneca from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Astrazeneca currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.