Sanford C. Bernstein Begins Coverage on Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $380.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays upped 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. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $329.48.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $321.66 on Thursday. Amgen has a 52 week low of $249.70 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $326.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $312.15. The company has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 547.8% in the 1st 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. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 137.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 28,684.1% in the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $236,924,000 after buying an additional 830,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 9,058.1% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $223,897,000 after acquiring an additional 748,200 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently 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.