Jefferies Financial Group Reiterates Buy Rating for Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Jefferies Financial Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a research note released on Wednesday morning. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a $380.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $375.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays raised Amgen from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, April 12th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $326.89.

Amgen Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $322.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $172.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96. Amgen has a 12-month low of $248.38 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $318.39 and its 200-day moving average is $298.84.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Amgen by 547.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Amgen by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,890,769,000 after acquiring an additional 243,720 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after acquiring an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,556,912,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Company Profile

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.