Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $315.00 to $319.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $277.29 on Thursday. Amgen has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $303.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.04. The stock has a market cap of $149.09 billion, a PE ratio of 36.73, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its position in Amgen by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.