Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Given New $310.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) had its price target upped by Morgan Stanley from $271.00 to $310.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on AMGN. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. 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, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $305.05.

Amgen Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $299.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $160.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.78, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $275.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.59. Amgen has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 156.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.46 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following 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 hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in Amgen by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 2,785 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.5% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 344,853 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $92,683,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $360,000. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ increased its position in Amgen by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ now owns 3,588 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $964,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by 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.