Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Earns Overweight Rating from Piper Sandler

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Piper Sandler in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $328.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price suggests a potential upside of 18.36% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (down from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.82.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7%

AMGN stock opened at $277.13 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $281.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $286.11. Amgen has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $149.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.11% and a net margin of 17.39%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Amgen will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the first quarter worth $25,000. First Pacific Financial lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 304.5% during the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 1,214.3% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 92 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 3,433.3% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 106 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.