William Blair Issues Pessimistic Estimate for Amgen Earnings

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) – Investment analysts at William Blair lowered their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Amgen in a research report issued on Tuesday, January 21st. William Blair analyst M. Phipps now anticipates that the medical research company will earn $19.56 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $19.62. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Amgen’s current full-year earnings is $19.57 per share.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.96 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AMGN. Citigroup cut their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Redburn Partners decreased their target price on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $277.88 on Thursday. Amgen has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $149.37 billion, a PE ratio of 35.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $271.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $306.43.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Amgen by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after acquiring an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after acquiring an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after acquiring an additional 251,876 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,657,183,000 after acquiring an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 33,125.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.