Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.50.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Richard Prins sold 7,973 shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.30, for a total transaction of $161,851.90. Following the sale, the director directly owned 29,625 shares in the company, valued at $601,387.50. The trade was a 21.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO William Peters sold 8,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.48, for a total transaction of $183,886.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 172,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,885,578.08. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,340 shares of company stock valued at $421,047. Company insiders own 29.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMPH. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,689,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 54.6% in the first quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 187,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,670,000 after buying an additional 66,172 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 47.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 261,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,122,000 after buying an additional 83,739 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 12.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,027,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,726,000 after buying an additional 228,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 211,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,671,000 after acquiring an additional 76,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.09% of the company’s stock.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.0%

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $23.78 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.40. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $16.65 and a one year high of $29.52.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $183.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.92 million. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 14.98%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

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.