Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Now Covered by Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $380.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock.

AMGN has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial lowered Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $333.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $329.48.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $321.33 on Thursday. Amgen has a one year low of $249.70 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $172.37 billion, a PE ratio of 45.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $326.08 and a 200-day moving average of $311.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keynote Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 4,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 17.1% in the first quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 219 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Hofer & Associates. Inc lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 6,477 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cadinha & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.