Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

AMPH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

AMPH opened at $20.58 on Wednesday. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $17.03 and a fifty-two week high of $31.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a current ratio of 4.02. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $933.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.92.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.24). Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.63% and a return on equity of 17.58%. The firm had revenue of $183.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.48 million. On average, research analysts expect that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 86.4% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 90,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,403,000 after purchasing an additional 41,800 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $3,447,000. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $1,018,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $2,504,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $3,598,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.09% of the company’s stock.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Founded in 2004, Amphastar focuses on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of injectable and inhalation products. The company’s manufacturing facilities in California produce both generic and proprietary formulations designed to address urgent and chronic medical conditions.

Amphastar’s portfolio includes a range of injectable generics such as epinephrine, naloxone and lidocaine, serving hospital, emergency medical and retail pharmacy channels.