Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) Receives Average Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Amphastar Pharmaceuticals “Reduce”: Two analysts recommend selling and six recommend holding, with an average 12-month price target of $22.50.
• AMPH shares opened at $26.68, above the consensus target, while the company’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations with earnings of $0.91 per share and revenue of $183.9 million.
• Insiders sold shares totaling about $763,922 over the past three months, while institutional investors own 65.09% of the stock.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" by the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.50.

AMPH has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of AMPH stock opened at $26.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.92. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $16.65 and a 12-month high of $29.52.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

In other Amphastar Pharmaceuticals news, CFO William J. Peters sold 8,180 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 172,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,885,578.08. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Rong Zhou sold 10,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 169,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,050,719.82. The trade was a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,479 shares of company stock valued at $763,922. 29.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $609,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 178.0% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 78,795 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,590,000 after purchasing an additional 50,450 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $3,286,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $2,761,000. Finally, Man Group plc purchased a new position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $350,000. 65.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets injectable, inhaled and intranasal products. The company focuses on complex and technically challenging medicines, including products for diabetes, emergency medicine, respiratory conditions and other specialty-care applications.

Its marketed products include glucagon for treating severe hypoglycemia, BAQSIMI nasal glucagon, Primatene MIST for temporary relief of mild intermittent asthma symptoms, naloxone products for opioid overdose emergencies, and enoxaparin sodium injection, an anticoagulant.

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