Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Raised to Outperform at William Blair

William Blair upgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on AMGN. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. SVB Leerink downgraded Amgen from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and reduced their price target for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $305.05.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $311.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The stock has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $274.95 and its 200 day moving average is $281.46. Amgen has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 145.62%. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,133,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 76.8% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 37,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,857,000 after acquiring an additional 16,376 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,445 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.4% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $745,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Platform Technology Partners raised its stake in Amgen by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.