Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $314.04.

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $306.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $164.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.66, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $301.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $298.38.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. On average, analysts forecast that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its position in shares of Amgen by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 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.