Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives Overweight Rating from Piper Sandler Companies

Piper Sandler Companies reissued their overweight rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a $310.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on AMGN. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $318.83.

Amgen Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $261.22 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The company has a 50-day moving average of $284.63 and a 200 day moving average of $310.41. Amgen has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $140.41 billion, a PE ratio of 33.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 121.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,882 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Amgen by 561.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,982 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 9,058.1% in the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $223,897,000 after purchasing an additional 748,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Amgen by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.