Piper Sandler Cuts Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Price Target to $310.00

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) had its target price trimmed by Piper Sandler from $344.00 to $310.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AMGN. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.83.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $261.22 on Thursday. Amgen has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $284.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $310.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.45, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.90%.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,130,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,882 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 561.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306,982 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 11.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.