Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on AMGN. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.05.

Amgen Stock Up 1.0 %

AMGN opened at $282.87 on Thursday. Amgen has a one year low of $257.80 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $311.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $317.16.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 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.