Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $319.68.

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial cut shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $333.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Leerink Partners cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $258.78 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $298.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $313.94. Amgen has a 52-week low of $257.80 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $139.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.13, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 121.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Napa Wealth Management bought a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at about $1,104,000. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $3,255,000. 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.