Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Sunday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Amgen from $326.00 to $317.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Amgen from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Amgen from $261.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $300.94.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $301.14 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $287.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.49. Amgen has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $335.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. Amgen had a return on equity of 174.71% and a net margin of 18.96%.The business had revenue of $9.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.200-21.300 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 77.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total transaction of $376,286.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,209 shares in the company, valued at $2,141,000.91. The trade was a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its stake in Amgen by 296.2% during the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 18,004 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,027,000 after purchasing an additional 13,460 shares during the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 87.1% during the first quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 3.9% during the first quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 16,132 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,026,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 7.3% during the first quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,491 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 2.7% during the first quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 1,577 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.