Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AMGN. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $319.68.

Amgen Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $273.41 on Tuesday. Amgen has a 1 year low of $257.80 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a market cap of $146.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $304.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $315.45.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the second quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.