Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) saw a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,350,000 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the September 15th total of 4,130,000 shares. Approximately 12.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 364,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 11.9 days.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.1 %

AMPH opened at $50.83 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.00 and a 200 day moving average of $43.08. The company has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 17.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.83. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $36.56 and a 12 month high of $65.92. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.10. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 29.79%. The firm had revenue of $182.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $171.29 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Rong Zhou sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.35, for a total transaction of $193,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 118,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,724,059.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Rong Zhou sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.35, for a total value of $193,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 118,388 shares in the company, valued at $5,724,059.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO William J. Peters sold 10,282 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.23, for a total transaction of $454,772.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 94,103 shares in the company, valued at $4,162,175.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,383 shares of company stock valued at $1,524,123 in the last 90 days. 27.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Bridge City Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 34,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 11,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 65.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMPH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $71.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.00.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a bio-pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells generic and proprietary injectable, inhalation, and intranasal products in the United States, China, and France. It offers BAQSIMI, a nasal spray for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; Primatene Mist, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhalation product for the temporary relief of mild symptoms of intermittent asthma; Enoxaparin, to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis; REXTOVY and Naloxone for opioid overdose; Glucagon for injection emergency kit; and Cortrosyn, for use as a diagnostic agent in the screening of patients with adrenocortical insufficiency.