Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Strong-Buy Rating

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $306.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $301.08 and a 200 day moving average of $298.38. The company has a market cap of $164.90 billion, a PE ratio of 40.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,741,409,000 after acquiring an additional 339,522 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,441,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672,975 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,245,881,000 after purchasing an additional 352,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,182,843,000 after buying an additional 3,495,503 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.