Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-six brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $319.68.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Dbs Bank raised Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after acquiring an additional 103,851 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after acquiring an additional 251,876 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after acquiring an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $273.41 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $146.97 billion, a PE ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55. Amgen has a 1 year low of $257.80 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $304.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $315.45.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.