Captrust Financial Advisors Sells 17,443 Shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Captrust Financial Advisors lessened its holdings in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 119,690 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,443 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors' holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $7,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in AstraZeneca in the 4th quarter worth approximately $440,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 2,613.8% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 653,668 shares of the company's stock worth $42,828,000 after acquiring an additional 629,581 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AstraZeneca by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 264,741 shares of the company's stock worth $17,346,000 after purchasing an additional 15,723 shares during the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in shares of AstraZeneca during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in AstraZeneca in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,103,000. Institutional investors own 20.35% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley began coverage on AstraZeneca in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on AstraZeneca in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded AstraZeneca from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $88.00.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZN traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.29. The company had a trading volume of 2,933,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,150,046. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $70.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $205.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.40. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $61.24 and a 12 month high of $87.68.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $13.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.71 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 32.23% and a net margin of 13.01%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.06 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company's marketed products include Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Lynparza, Calquence, Enhertu, Orpathys, Truqap, Zoladex, Faslodex, Farxiga, Brilinta, Lokelma, Roxadustat, Andexxa, Crestor, Seloken, Onglyza, Bydureon, Fasenra, Breztri, Symbicort, Saphnelo, Tezspire, Pulmicort, Bevespi, and Daliresp for cardiovascular, renal, metabolism, and oncology.