Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock

Key Points

• Bank of America has raised its target price for Amgen from $261.00 to $272.00 while maintaining an "underperform" rating, suggesting limited short-term growth potential.
• Analysts exhibit a mixed outlook on Amgen, with Citigroup setting a more optimistic target at $315.00, while a total of seven analysts recommend "Buy," twelve "Hold," and one "Sell."
• Amgen reported strong quarterly earnings, delivering $6.02 earnings per share, exceeding expectations and reflecting a 9.4% year-over-year revenue increase.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by Bank of America from $261.00 to $272.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "underperform" rating on the medical research company's stock. Bank of America's target price points to a potential upside of 0.49% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Amgen from $330.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.70.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN traded down $0.51 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $270.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 191,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,783,471. Amgen has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $335.88. The company's 50-day moving average is $289.29 and its 200-day moving average is $289.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market cap of $145.72 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.49.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.28 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 174.71% and a net margin of 18.96%.Amgen's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.97 EPS. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.200-21.300 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total transaction of $376,286.33. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 7,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,141,000.91. This represents a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. First Pacific Financial increased its position in shares of Amgen by 304.5% during the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 1,214.3% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 92 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Amgen by 3,433.3% during the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 106 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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