Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Trims Stock Holdings in AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its holdings in shares of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 506,072 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,518 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in AstraZeneca were worth $39,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AZN. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 1.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,117,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,801,080,000 after buying an additional 258,477 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AstraZeneca by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,480,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $816,509,000 after purchasing an additional 524,175 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in AstraZeneca by 16.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,417,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,565,000 after purchasing an additional 488,644 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in AstraZeneca by 5.8% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,403,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,458,000 after purchasing an additional 186,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in AstraZeneca by 109.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,071,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605,758 shares during the last quarter. 20.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZN has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZN opened at $67.18 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $208.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.45. AstraZeneca PLC has a twelve month low of $60.47 and a twelve month high of $87.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.93.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $13.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.08 billion. AstraZeneca had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AstraZeneca PLC will post 4.11 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.