AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) Upgraded by Citigroup to Strong-Buy

Citigroup upgraded shares of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on AstraZeneca in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Argus boosted their target price on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised AstraZeneca from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays raised AstraZeneca to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on AstraZeneca from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $88.00.

AstraZeneca Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:AZN opened at $79.75 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.13. The stock has a market cap of $247.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.48. AstraZeneca has a 1 year low of $60.47 and a 1 year high of $80.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.89.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $12.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.92 billion. AstraZeneca had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 13.30%. As a group, analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AstraZeneca

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,271,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,151,177,000 after buying an additional 9,002,450 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 49,492,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,351,653,000 after buying an additional 358,399 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,782,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,342,367,000 after buying an additional 164,183 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 14,684,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $988,972,000 after buying an additional 4,122,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,424,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,617,000 after buying an additional 889,178 shares in the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.