Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $333.57.

Several analysts have recently commented on AMGN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Keynote Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the second 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 period. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the second 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. Hofer & Associates. Inc lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 6,477 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors grew its stake in Amgen by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $294.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The firm has a market cap of $158.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.71, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $316.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $318.11. Amgen has a 12-month low of $260.68 and a 12-month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

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.