Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

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

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on AMGN. Truist Financial lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Barclays raised their price target 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. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.05.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN opened at $280.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $150.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen has a fifty-two week low of $257.80 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $312.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $317.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 115.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 1st quarter valued at $152,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 268.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 233,379 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $66,355,000 after buying an additional 170,108 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 151.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 70,984 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $20,182,000 after buying an additional 42,739 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 111,213 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,620,000 after buying an additional 1,842 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 86,987 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $24,732,000 after buying an additional 6,798 shares during the period. 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.