Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-six brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $333.57.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 target price (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $283.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $320.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $318.05. Amgen has a fifty-two week low of $260.52 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $152.45 billion, a PE ratio of 36.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.