Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $305.05.

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. William Blair upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Amgen from $332.00 to $328.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Amgen

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,556,912,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $4,589,900,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Amgen by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after buying an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 486.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $258,997,000 after buying an additional 745,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 150.4% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,043,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,580,000 after acquiring an additional 626,810 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $311.29 on Wednesday. Amgen has a 12 month low of $211.71 and a 12 month high of $329.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The company has a market capitalization of $166.97 billion, a PE ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.46.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

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

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.