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

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from “strong buy” to “buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Reduce” with a $22.50 target price.
• Amphastar reported quarterly earnings of $0.91 per share, exceeding the $0.62 analyst estimate, while revenue of $183.9 million also topped expectations.
• The stock opened at $25.14 and has declined 3.5%; insiders sold 33,479 shares worth approximately $763,922 over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 65.09% of the company.

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

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on AMPH. Barclays lifted their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating and set a $20.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $22.50.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.5%

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $25.14 on Friday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $24.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $16.65 and a twelve month high of $29.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO William Peters sold 8,180 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.48, for a total transaction of $183,886.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 172,846 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,885,578.08. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Rong Zhou sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.94, for a total transaction of $239,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 169,203 shares in the company, valued at $4,050,719.82. This represents a 5.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,479 shares of company stock worth $763,922. 29.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 12.7% in the first 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. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 553,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,851,000 after buying an additional 9,200 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% in the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 452,898 shares of the company's stock worth $8,872,000 after buying an additional 17,318 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 41.1% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 375,965 shares of the company's stock worth $7,587,000 after purchasing an additional 109,500 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 47.1% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 261,483 shares of the company's stock worth $5,122,000 after buying an additional 83,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.09% of the company's stock.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets injectable, inhalation and intranasal products. The company focuses on technically challenging medicines, including complex generics, proprietary products and products based on its drug-delivery technologies.

Its product portfolio includes Primatene MIST, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhaler; Baqsimi, a nasal glucagon product used to treat severe hypoglycemia; and injectable medicines such as glucagon, naloxone, enoxaparin and hyaluronidase.

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