Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Hits New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Saturday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $34.00 to $30.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals traded as low as $19.83 and last traded at $20.23, with a volume of 1965411 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.49.

AMPH has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Rong Zhou sold 9,787 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total transaction of $256,419.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 138,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,616,726.60. This represents a 6.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Floyd F. Petersen sold 2,426 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,849,858.56. This represents a 3.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 13,950 shares of company stock worth $363,925 over the last quarter. 27.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 2,864.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 177,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,760,000 after acquiring an additional 171,748 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 501,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,428,000 after purchasing an additional 111,811 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 20,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,978 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,394,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,344,000 after purchasing an additional 40,536 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 165,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,443,000 after purchasing an additional 16,112 shares in the last quarter. 65.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $929.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.97, a PEG ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.88.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $183.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 predict that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.