Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Stock Price

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) had its price objective cut by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $34.00 to $30.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 48.29% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays started coverage on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research downgraded Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $20.23 on Friday. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $19.83 and a 1-year high of $31.26. The company has a current ratio of 3.12, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $929.57 million, a PE ratio of 9.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.99.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $183.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.48 million. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.63% and a return on equity of 17.74%. As a group, analysts expect that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Amphastar Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Rong Zhou sold 9,787 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total value of $256,419.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 138,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,616,726.60. This represents a 6.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Floyd F. Petersen sold 2,426 shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.92, for a total transaction of $62,881.92. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 71,368 shares in the company, valued at $1,849,858.56. This trade represents a 3.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 13,950 shares of company stock worth $363,925 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 27.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,237,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,134,000 after purchasing an additional 363,216 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 382.9% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 392,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,455,000 after buying an additional 311,071 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $7,560,000. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 392,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,471,000 after buying an additional 268,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 367.2% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 312,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,322,000 after buying an additional 245,440 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.09% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Amphastar Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management expects mid- to high-single-digit revenue growth for 2026 and is launching a new respiratory product, which provides a clear growth runway beyond the quarter that disappointed investors. Amphastar outlines mid- to high-single-digit revenue growth for 2026 while launching new respiratory product
• Positive Sentiment: Two sell-side shops lowered price targets from $34 to $30 but retained constructive ratings (Wells Fargo: overweight; Needham: buy), signaling that analysts still see significant upside from current levels despite trimming near-term assumptions. Analyst price target coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Company published its Q4 press release, slide deck and conference call materials for investors to review detailed results and management commentary. These materials may clarify margin drivers and product cadence. Press release / slide deck
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media write-ups (Zacks, Seeking Alpha, Investing.com) provide deeper metric-level analysis comparing results to estimates — useful for modeling but not new catalyst by itself. Zacks comparison of key metrics
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 results missed consensus: adjusted EPS of $0.73 vs. ~$0.97 expected and revenue of $183.1M vs. ~$190.5M, prompting investor concern about near-term growth and profit leverage. MarketBeat earnings summary
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction has been amplified by heavy trading and coverage noting the miss; short-interest reports in public feeds are noisy/unclear but the immediate selloff reflects disappointment with the quarter. Yahoo finance: earnings miss and market reaction

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Founded in 2004, Amphastar focuses on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of injectable and inhalation products. The company’s manufacturing facilities in California produce both generic and proprietary formulations designed to address urgent and chronic medical conditions.

Amphastar’s portfolio includes a range of injectable generics such as epinephrine, naloxone and lidocaine, serving hospital, emergency medical and retail pharmacy channels.