Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Price

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) had its price target boosted by Bank of America from $261.00 to $272.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the medical research company’s stock.

AMGN has been the subject of several other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their target price on Amgen from $326.00 to $317.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Amgen from $328.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.70.

Amgen Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $272.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24. The company has a market capitalization of $146.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.49. Amgen has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $335.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $288.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $289.22.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.97 EPS. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.200-21.300 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 77.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total transaction of $376,286.33. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,141,000.91. The trade was a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 27,765.8% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,700,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,870,880,000 after purchasing an additional 6,676,575 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the second quarter valued at about $1,663,726,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 43,573.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,661,589 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,140,768,000 after buying an additional 3,653,205 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $688,868,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,711,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,996,807,000 after acquiring an additional 841,117 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.