Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Given Outperform Rating at William Blair

William Blair reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a research note published on Tuesday morning,RTT News reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AMGN. Bank of America upped their price target on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.50.

Amgen Trading Down 7.1 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $298.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $323.37 and its 200-day moving average is $318.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Amgen has a one year low of $260.52 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Amgen by 21.3% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 102,352 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,979,000 after acquiring an additional 17,974 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 182,475 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $58,795,000 after purchasing an additional 12,932 shares in the last quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 39,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,655,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,552 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,433,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 18,187 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,860,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. 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.