Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Upgraded to Outperform by William Blair

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) was upgraded by William Blair from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.05.

Amgen Trading Up 11.8 %

AMGN stock opened at $311.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. Amgen has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72. The company has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $274.95 and a 200-day moving average of $281.50.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 145.62% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,035,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,178,910,000 after purchasing an additional 165,636 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Amgen by 3.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,977,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,875,306,000 after acquiring an additional 255,463 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Amgen by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,890,769,000 after acquiring an additional 243,720 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after purchasing an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,556,912,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.