Global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) and Oxford University are working together to manufacture a vaccine against the Omicron variant of coronavirus, according to a report published by The Financial Times, citing Sandy Douglas, a research group leader at Oxford.
“Adenovirus-based vaccines (such as that made by Oxford/AstraZeneca) could in principle be used to respond to any new variant more rapidly than some may previously have realized,” Douglas said.
A spokesperson from AZN said, “Together with Oxford University, we have taken preliminary steps in producing an Omicron variant vaccine, in case it is needed and will be informed by emerging data.”
Headquartered in the U.K., the company manufactures and sells medicines for the treatment of cancer, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, oncology, respiratory, inflammation, and other infectious diseases.
AstraZeneca’s shares closed up 0.7% on Tuesday at $56.94.
Wall Street’s Take
Recently, Leerink Partners analyst Andrew Berens maintained a Buy rating on AstraZeneca, and Peter Welford, an analyst at Jefferies (JEF) downgraded the rating on the stock to a Hold from a Buy.
Neither analyst provided a price target for the Cambridge-based company.
Overall, the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 2 Buys and 1 Hold.
AZN shares have gained nearly 17% over the past year.
Hedge Funds’ Confidence
TipRanks’ Hedge Fund Trading Activity tool shows that confidence in AstraZeneca is currently Positive, as the cumulative change in holdings across all 10 hedge funds that were active in the last quarter was an increase of 975,100 shares.
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