Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Short Interest Up 6.1% in September

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,000,000 shares, a growth of 6.1% from the August 31st total of 8,480,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,990,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $405.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Dbs Bank upgraded Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 target price (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.55.

Amgen Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $322.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $172.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $328.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $308.12.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 182.0% in the 1st quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 141 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. 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.