Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Raised to Equal Weight at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $300.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $230.00.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on AMGN. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. SVB Leerink cut shares of Amgen from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $305.05.

Amgen Stock Up 11.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $311.29 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $274.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.46. The stock has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a PE ratio of 44.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen has a 52-week low of $211.71 and a 52-week high of $329.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, United Community Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.