Amgen’s (AMGN) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group restated their buy rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $380.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $333.50.

Amgen Trading Down 7.1 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $298.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $323.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $318.07. Amgen has a 1-year low of $260.52 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $160.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,566,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,758,000 after acquiring an additional 2,353 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. now owns 106,538 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,328,000 after acquiring an additional 3,260 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,354,000. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 2.7% during the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 82,368 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.