Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Dbs Bank

Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on AMGN. Bank of America boosted their price target on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus upped their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $327.28.

Amgen Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $335.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. Amgen has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $329.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $305.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.22 billion, a PE ratio of 47.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 128.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in Amgen by 547.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Amgen by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,890,769,000 after buying an additional 243,720 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Amgen by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,679,625,000 after buying an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Amgen by 6.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $844,137,000 after buying an additional 162,223 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.