Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $305.05.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. SVB Leerink lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays raised Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, William Blair upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Balboa Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $254,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 120,005 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $32,253,000 after purchasing an additional 9,106 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth about $215,000. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $243,000. Finally, Crescent Sterling Ltd. lifted its stake in Amgen by 2.0% during the third quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 9,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,540,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

Amgen stock opened at $311.29 on Wednesday. Amgen has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $166.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $274.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.46.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a return on equity of 145.62% and a net margin of 12.74%. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

Amgen Company Profile

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.