Amgen’s (AMGN) Buy Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday. They presently have a $380.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $375.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 23.67% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays upgraded shares of Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.79.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $21.69 on Wednesday, reaching $307.26. 2,474,137 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,637,363. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $164.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen has a 52 week low of $248.38 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $317.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $298.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045,657 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Amgen by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,890,769,000 after acquiring an additional 243,720 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Amgen by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after buying an additional 751,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $1,556,912,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.