William Blair Comments on Amgen Inc.’s Q1 2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) – Equities researchers at William Blair reduced their Q1 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Amgen in a research note issued on Wednesday, April 17th. William Blair analyst M. Phipps now anticipates that the medical research company will post earnings of $3.64 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $3.68. The consensus estimate for Amgen’s current full-year earnings is $19.47 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Amgen’s FY2024 earnings at $18.85 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also commented on AMGN. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $315.00 to $314.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.38.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $264.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.65. The firm has a market cap of $141.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $277.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.37. Amgen has a 52 week low of $211.71 and a 52 week high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The business’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.09 earnings per share.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Roundview Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 8,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,027,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 39.2% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,297 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the first quarter worth about $219,000. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the first quarter worth about $334,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 2.1% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,688 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,970,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.