Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $303.76.

Amgen Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of AMGN opened at $288.23 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $293.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $292.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.31. Amgen has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $339.17.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $9.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.97 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the second quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Amgen by 5.1% in the second quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 522,925 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $146,006,000 after acquiring an additional 25,254 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in Amgen in the second quarter valued at approximately $474,000. Cornerstone Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 22.1% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 32,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,102,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Amgen by 63.9% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 15,668 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,375,000 after acquiring an additional 6,110 shares during the last quarter. 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.