Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $327.28.

AMGN has been the topic of several research reports. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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.

Amgen Trading Up 1.7 %

Amgen stock opened at $325.92 on Tuesday. Amgen has a 12-month low of $249.70 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.13 billion, a PE ratio of 46.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $326.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $302.67.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued 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 net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 11,348 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 89,834 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,874,000 after buying an additional 2,389 shares during the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 13,495 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,887,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 174,891 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $50,376,000 after buying an additional 35,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grassi Investment Management bought a new position in Amgen during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,283,000. 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.