Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

Research analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm set a “strong-buy” rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Amgen from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on Amgen from $240.00 to $220.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Amgen from $276.00 to $253.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on Amgen from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Cowen dropped their target price on Amgen from $307.00 to $289.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $251.44.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN opened at $229.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.20, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.41. Amgen has a 52-week low of $223.30 and a 52-week high of $296.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $245.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $254.71.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The medical research company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.04 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 359.47% and a net margin of 24.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Amgen will post 17.72 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,459,511 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,697,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310,894 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Amgen by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,301,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,493,471,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523,665 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,375,567 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,983,235,000 after acquiring an additional 174,774 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,287,286 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,439,213,000 after acquiring an additional 50,756 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Amgen by 24.9% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,911,384 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,168,140,000 after buying an additional 1,774,223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.53% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Company Profile

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Amgen, Inc is a biotechnology company, which engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of human therapeutics. It operates through Human Therapeutics segment. The company was founded by William K. Bowes, Jr., Franklin Pitcher Johnson, Jr., George B. Rathmann, and Joseph Rubinfeld on April 8, 1980 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA.