Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Lowered to "Buy" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from “strong buy” to “buy.” Overall analyst sentiment remains cautious, with a consensus “reduce” rating and a $22.50 target price.
• Amphastar reported quarterly EPS of $0.91, exceeding the $0.62 analyst consensus, while revenue of $183.9 million also surpassed estimates.
• Insiders sold 19,340 shares worth approximately $421,000 over the past 90 days, while institutional investors collectively own 65.09% of the company.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

AMPH has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $20.00 price target (down from $25.00) on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $22.50.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.0%

AMPH opened at $23.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $20.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.43. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $16.65 and a 1-year high of $29.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.92.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 10.76%.The business had revenue of $183.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.92 million. Analysts expect that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amphastar Pharmaceuticals news, Director Richard K. Prins sold 7,973 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.30, for a total value of $161,851.90. Following the transaction, the director owned 29,625 shares of the company's stock, valued at $601,387.50. This represents a 21.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO William J. Peters sold 8,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.48, for a total transaction of $183,886.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 172,846 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,885,578.08. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,340 shares of company stock valued at $421,047. 29.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMPH. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,027,947 shares of the company's stock worth $39,726,000 after purchasing an additional 228,262 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,963,052 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,571,000 after purchasing an additional 31,160 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,531,786 shares of the company's stock worth $41,021,000 after purchasing an additional 31,044 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,394,463 shares of the company's stock worth $37,344,000 after purchasing an additional 40,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,237,284 shares of the company's stock worth $33,134,000 after buying an additional 363,216 shares during the period. 65.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

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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