Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Earns Neutral Rating from Piper Sandler

Key Points

• Piper Sandler reaffirmed its neutral rating on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and cut its price target to $21 from $25, implying modest upside from current levels.
• Other analysts have also turned more cautious, with multiple firms trimming targets; the broader consensus now sits at an average Hold rating and a $26.86 price target.
• Amphastar recently reported Q1 earnings of $0.42 per share, missing estimates of $0.70, while revenue also came in slightly below expectations at $171.17 million.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Piper Sandler in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $21.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $25.00. Piper Sandler's target price points to a potential upside of 10.82% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AMPH. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $26.86.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMPH traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $18.95. The company had a trading volume of 613,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,999. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 2.82 and a current ratio of 3.85. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $17.03 and a 1-year high of $31.26. The company has a market cap of $843.89 million, a PE ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day moving average of $20.80 and a 200-day moving average of $24.57.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.28). Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 15.12%. The company had revenue of $171.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.46 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMPH. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,237,284 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,134,000 after buying an additional 363,216 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 382.9% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 392,310 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,455,000 after buying an additional 311,071 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $7,560,000. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 392,902 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,471,000 after buying an additional 268,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 367.2% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 312,274 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,322,000 after buying an additional 245,440 shares during the last quarter. 65.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Founded in 2004, Amphastar focuses on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of injectable and inhalation products. The company's manufacturing facilities in California produce both generic and proprietary formulations designed to address urgent and chronic medical conditions.

Amphastar's portfolio includes a range of injectable generics such as epinephrine, naloxone and lidocaine, serving hospital, emergency medical and retail pharmacy channels.

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