Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) had its price objective upped by Bank of America from $256.00 to $275.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underperform” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential downside of 6.32% from the company’s current price.

AMGN has been the topic of a number of other reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Redburn Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $313.23.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $293.54 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $157.79 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $272.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.51. Amgen has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. Equities research analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 143,836 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,489,000 after purchasing an additional 9,254 shares in the last quarter. Summit X LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth $455,000. Natural Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $1,248,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, Avantax Planning Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 26,404 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,882,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.