Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Earns Outperform Rating from William Blair

William Blair reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a research note released on Tuesday morning,RTT News reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AMGN. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.50.

Amgen Stock Down 7.1 %

AMGN opened at $298.84 on Tuesday. Amgen has a 12 month low of $260.52 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $323.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $318.07. The company has a market cap of $160.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Amgen by 547.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Amgen by 6,812.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,882 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Amgen by 137.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.