AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 63.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 871,893 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 338,566 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $67,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AZN. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in AstraZeneca by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,537,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,160,000 after buying an additional 121,876 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in AstraZeneca by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 224,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,510,000 after purchasing an additional 16,692 shares during the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AstraZeneca during the 2nd quarter worth $269,000. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its stake in AstraZeneca by 9.7% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 6,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca by 124.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 98,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,657,000 after buying an additional 54,488 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AZN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of AstraZeneca from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

AstraZeneca stock opened at $75.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.89. AstraZeneca PLC has a one year low of $60.47 and a one year high of $87.68. The company has a market cap of $235.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.41.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 13.11% and a return on equity of 29.34%. The company had revenue of $12.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AstraZeneca Profile

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.