Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup cut their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Redburn Partners decreased their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial downgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $319.68.

Amgen Stock Up 0.2 %

AMGN opened at $274.06 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $303.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $315.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55. Amgen has a 12 month low of $257.80 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 121.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after buying an additional 103,851 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,393,718,000 after buying an additional 251,876 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently 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.