AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Shares Sold by Compass Ion Advisors LLC

Compass Ion Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 6.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,363 shares of the company’s stock after selling 237 shares during the quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 0.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 49,492,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,351,653,000 after buying an additional 358,399 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in AstraZeneca by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,782,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,342,367,000 after purchasing an additional 164,183 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in AstraZeneca by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 14,684,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $988,972,000 after purchasing an additional 4,122,965 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in AstraZeneca by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,424,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $708,617,000 after purchasing an additional 889,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in AstraZeneca by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,404,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $633,361,000 after purchasing an additional 233,015 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Citigroup raised AstraZeneca to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Argus boosted their price target on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $88.00.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

AZN opened at $77.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. AstraZeneca PLC has a 12 month low of $60.47 and a 12 month high of $80.86. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.51. The stock has a market cap of $241.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.45.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $12.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.92 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 13.30%. On average, research analysts expect that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.04 EPS 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.