Morgan Stanley Cuts Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Price Target to $303.00

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) had its target price decreased by Morgan Stanley from $310.00 to $303.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho raised their target price on Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Raymond James began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a market perform rating on the stock. Argus raised their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $307.00.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $325.09 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $308.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $294.36. Amgen has a 12-month low of $224.09 and a 12-month high of $329.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.39 billion, a PE ratio of 46.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Amgen by 547.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $1,556,912,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $4,589,900,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 137.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.