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

StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AMGN. Mizuho boosted their target price on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $315.00 price target (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $310.23.

Amgen Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of AMGN stock traded up $8.90 on Friday, reaching $274.76. 4,214,771 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,772,534. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average of $296.08 and a 200-day moving average of $289.50. The company has a market cap of $147.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.39, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Amgen's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.96 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,707 shares of company stock valued at $12,819,342. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Pacific Financial increased its stake in Amgen by 304.5% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.