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-four ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $314.09.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMGN. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $309.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $166.38 billion, a PE ratio of 41.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $277.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $300.20.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business 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 $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its stake in Amgen by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in 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.