Piper Sandler Has Lowered Expectations for Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Price

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) had its target price cut by Piper Sandler from $329.00 to $328.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on AMGN. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (down from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $310.18.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $272.41 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $291.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $287.86. Amgen has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $146.48 billion, a PE ratio of 36.08, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.96 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. First Pacific Financial grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 304.5% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.