William Blair Issues Optimistic Forecast for Amgen Earnings

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) – Stock analysts at William Blair upped their FY2028 earnings estimates for shares of Amgen in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, February 5th. William Blair analyst M. Phipps now anticipates that the medical research company will post earnings of $20.89 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $20.80. William Blair currently has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Amgen’s current full-year earnings is $19.56 per share.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AMGN. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.83.

Amgen Stock Up 6.5 %

AMGN stock opened at $307.81 on Thursday. Amgen has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $271.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $303.55. The company has a market cap of $165.46 billion, a PE ratio of 39.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Talbot Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after buying an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Amgen by 3.2% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.