Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Friday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on AMGN. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays increased their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.50.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $316.91 on Friday. Amgen has a one year low of $260.52 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $324.27 and its 200 day moving average is $316.29. The firm has a market cap of $170.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 19.45 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.