Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $380.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock.

AMGN has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America upped their price target on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.45.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $321.66 on Thursday. Amgen has a twelve month low of $249.70 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $326.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $312.41.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The company’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.00 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Keynote Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 4,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 219 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Hofer & Associates. Inc lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 6,477 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently 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.