Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by investment analysts at UBS Group from $315.00 to $326.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the medical research company's stock. UBS Group's target price points to a potential upside of 5.59% from the company's previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, May 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Erste Group Bank lowered Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on 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 issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $307.27.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $308.74. The company had a trading volume of 610,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,949,363. Amgen has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company's 50 day moving average price is $287.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.04. The stock has a market cap of $166.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.96 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares in the company, valued at $2,364,368.16. The trade was a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,870,453 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $16,471,790,000 after buying an additional 148,658 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,245,881,000 after purchasing an additional 352,143 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,182,843,000 after buying an additional 3,495,503 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1,292.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,693,042,000 after buying an additional 6,029,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,431,029 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,676,183,000 after buying an additional 875,254 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.