Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Cut to “Hold” at Truist Financial

Truist Financial cut shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Truist Financial currently has $333.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $320.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Argus upped their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $326.95.

Amgen Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $321.63 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $326.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $311.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Amgen has a 1-year low of $249.70 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $172.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.95, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Keynote Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 4,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 219 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 6,477 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,024,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.