AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN) has been given an “A” credit rating by Morningstar. The investment research firm’s “A” rating suggests that the company is a low default risk. They also gave their stock a three star rating.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EisnerAmper Wealth Management increased its stake in AstraZeneca plc by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. EisnerAmper Wealth Management now owns 12,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. EQIS Capital Management increased its stake in AstraZeneca plc by 167.8% in the fourth quarter. EQIS Capital Management now owns 23,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $790,000 after buying an additional 14,578 shares during the last quarter. Janus Capital Management purchased a new stake in AstraZeneca plc during the third quarter worth approximately $11,558,000. Finally, Jennison Associates increased its stake in AstraZeneca plc by 45.5% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates now owns 3,906,335 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $124,300,000 after buying an additional 1,221,321 shares during the last quarter.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on AZN. Morgan Stanley raised AstraZeneca plc from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 1st. TheStreet raised AstraZeneca plc from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 23rd. Beaufort Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of AstraZeneca plc in a research note on Monday, November 9th. Deutsche Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AstraZeneca plc in a research note on Wednesday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays raised AstraZeneca plc from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.00.

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN) traded up 1.159% during trading on Monday, hitting $31.845. The stock had a trading volume of 1,695,890 shares. The firm has a market cap of $80.50 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.530. AstraZeneca plc has a one year low of $29.50 and a one year high of $36.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $32.86 and its 200 day moving average is $32.74.

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.52. The business earned $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that AstraZeneca plc will post $2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE:AZN) is a global biopharmaceutical company. The Company discovers, develops and commercializes prescription medicines for Cardiovascular and Metabolic diseases; Oncology; Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity, Infection, Neuroscience and Gastrointestinal. The Company’s medicines include Crestor for managing cholesterol levels; Seloken/Toprol-XL for hypertension, heart failure and angina; Onglyza for Type 2; Iressa for lung cancer; Faslodex for breast cancer; Zoladex for prostate and breast cancer; Pulmicort for asthma; Symbicort for asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary); Nexium for acid-related diseases; Seroquel XR for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depressive disorder, and Synagis for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), a respiratory infection in infants. The Company’s pipeline includes 133 projects, of which 118 are in the clinical phase of development. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:AZN

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