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

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nineteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $295.30.

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Amgen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $264.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Roundview Capital LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 8,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,027,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 39.2% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,297 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $555,000 after buying an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 1st quarter worth approximately $219,000. First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in Amgen in the 1st quarter worth approximately $334,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,688 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,970,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $269.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $285.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.35. The stock has a market cap of $144.67 billion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen has a 12 month low of $211.71 and a 12 month high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.06%.

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.