AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,630,000 shares, an increase of 14.9% from the October 15th total of 4,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,910,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days.

AstraZeneca Stock Performance

AZN stock opened at $63.23 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $196.05 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50 day moving average of $75.03 and a 200-day moving average of $78.23. AstraZeneca has a 12-month low of $60.47 and a 12-month high of $87.68.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 12.68%. AstraZeneca’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AstraZeneca will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AstraZeneca

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AZN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 17.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,271,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,151,177,000 after buying an additional 9,002,450 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the first quarter valued at about $186,127,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AstraZeneca during the second quarter valued at about $188,476,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 109.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,071,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of AstraZeneca by 750.3% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,283,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,362 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on AstraZeneca from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded AstraZeneca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded AstraZeneca from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

AstraZeneca Company 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.