Astrazeneca Plc $AZN Shares Sold by FNY Investment Advisers LLC

Key Points

• FNY Investment Advisers cut its AstraZeneca stake by 97.2% in the second quarter, selling 7,050 shares and retaining 200 shares valued at approximately $38,000.
• AstraZeneca reported quarterly EPS of $2.63, beating estimates of $2.50, while revenue rose 6.4% year over year to $15.38 billion, slightly below forecasts.
• Shares opened at $161.28, well below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $211, despite two recent rating cuts to “Hold.”

FNY Investment Advisers LLC decreased its stake in Astrazeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN - Free Report) by 97.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,050 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Astrazeneca were worth $38,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 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. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Astrazeneca by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,157,744 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,537,684,000 after buying an additional 445,014 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Astrazeneca by 146,574.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 15,386,149 shares of the company's stock worth $3,034,456,000 after buying an additional 15,375,659 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 432,939 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Astrazeneca by 889.9% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,949,424 shares of the company's stock worth $2,319,947,000 after buying an additional 10,742,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.35% of the company's stock.

Astrazeneca Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Astrazeneca stock opened at $161.28 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.12. Astrazeneca Plc has a fifty-two week low of $145.79 and a fifty-two week high of $212.71. The firm has a market cap of $250.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.44 billion. Astrazeneca had a return on equity of 31.45% and a net margin of 17.02%.Astrazeneca's revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Astrazeneca Plc will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Astrazeneca from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings cut Astrazeneca from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Astrazeneca in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Astrazeneca has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.00.

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.

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