Alexion Pharmaceuticals Shares Crashes

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares slipped 0.15% to $184.27 Wednesday. This proved to be an all-around great trading session for the stock market,with the S&P 500 Index SPX rising 0.34% to 4,358.13 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rising 0.30% to 34,681.79.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. closed $2.25 short of its 52-week high ($186.52), which the company reached on July 2nd. The stock demonstrated a mixed performance when compared to some of its competitors Wednesday, as Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD fell 0.07% to $68.36, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. VRTX fell 0.53% to $198.99, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. REGN rose 0.63% to $585.90.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc trading volume (2.8 M) eclipsed its 50-day average volume of 1.9 M.This was the stock’s second consecutive day of losses. AstraZeneca PLC AZN announced that the European Commission has allowed the company to close its impending merger with Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALXN. The deal is expected to close in the ongoing quarter.

The company has already received competition clearances for the above acquisition in the United States, Canada, Japan and several other countries. However, authorities in the United Kingdom are yet to give it clearance. AstraZeneca must have clearance in the United Kingdom to complete the deal. Shares of AstraZeneca have rallied 21.6% so far this year compared with its industry’s growth of 10%. The company already has a strong presence in the markets of oncology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism, and respiratory diseases. Zoetis’ earnings estimates have been revised 1.6% upward for 2021 and 1.8% for 2022 over the past 60 days. The stock has rallied 16.5% year to date.