Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) PT Raised to $310.00

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

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. SVB Leerink downgraded shares of Amgen from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their target price for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays upgraded shares of Amgen from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and raised their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Amgen from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $305.05.

Amgen Stock Down 3.8 %

AMGN stock opened at $299.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $275.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.59. Amgen has a 12 month low of $211.71 and a 12 month high of $329.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.64 billion, a PE ratio of 42.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.98 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $1,556,912,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,589,900,000. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Amgen by 14.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Amgen by 486.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $258,997,000 after acquiring an additional 745,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 150.4% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,043,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,580,000 after purchasing an additional 626,810 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Company Profile

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.