Analysts Set Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Price Target at $318.83

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twenty-seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $317.30.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Redburn Partners reduced their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.8% in the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.1% in the second quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 3,101 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $264.21 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $142.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The business’s fifty day moving average is $281.35 and its 200 day moving average is $309.46.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 121.90%.

About Amgen

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.