Piper Sandler Reiterates "Overweight" Rating for Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Piper Sandler in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $328.00 price objective on the medical research company's stock. Piper Sandler's price target suggests a potential upside of 16.88% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $315.00 target price (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price objective for the company. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, May 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $1.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $280.64. The stock had a trading volume of 518,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,820,753. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70. The company has a market capitalization of $150.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $281.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $286.01.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.11% and a net margin of 17.39%. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.96 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,162 shares in the company, valued at $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. KPP Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,817,000 after buying an additional 2,716 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new stake in Amgen during the first quarter worth $1,331,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Amgen by 285.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 394,489 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $102,820,000 after buying an additional 292,137 shares during the period. Aire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 13,280 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,461,000 after buying an additional 2,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $3,531,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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