Astrazeneca Share News (AZN)

Woodford Investment Management has added to its core holdings in British American Tobacco and G4S in its portfolio but announced it had sold down its stake in Reckitt Benckiser.Speaking about its decision to sell stakes in the multinational consumer goods company, which had been part of the fund for a decade, Woodford said the firm's shares had become too expensive recently.Woodford said that its CF Woodford Equity Income Fund withstood the increasingly volatile conditions the markets were subject to in September."We continue to view Reckitts as a great business with a very strong management team and an excellent product line-up," Woodford said in a statement."Such a high quality business deserves a high market rating but the shares have recently become too expensive to continue to justify their position in the portfolio."Despite a range of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Russia, the increasingly rapid spread of the Ebola virus and economic issues such as the slowdown in most Eurozone economies and the uncertainty over the European Central Bank's policies, the fund was awarded a 'Bronze' rating in September by Morningstar OBSR.In a note released on Tuesday, Woodford said that a number of stocks performed positively in September, with AA delivering strong results buoyed by half year results and a series of directorate changes.Since its initial public offering in June, shares in the road recovery firm have risen from 250p to 322.5p at the end of September and Woodford stated the fund was confident the firm's long-term strategy would lead to a growth in business.Reynolds American performed well and its deal with US-based tobacco company Lorillard "looks very sensible and value-enhancing" Woodford said, adding that the fund's holding in the US firm benefited from the strength of the US dollar during the period.The investment management group said Astrazeneca showed signs of weakness in the wake of the US government's decision to close the loophole of "tax inversion", which allows US businesses to purchase overseas companies, thus reducing their US tax obligations."This short-term 'will they / won't they' speculation about Pfizer' intentions towards Astrazeneca is an unwelcome distraction and we hope that, in time, the market can turn its attention back to the significant long-term potential that is building in Astrazeneca's clinical pipeline," Woodford said.The investment management firm added that Next had delivered disappointing results, as the clothing firm said it might fail to meet current profit guidance if the warm weather was to continue throughout October.Woodford, however, reiterated that it continued to view Next as a "very high quality, dependable retail business with an outstanding track record of delivering long-term shareholder value."