Amgen’s (AMGN) Underperform Rating Reiterated at Bank of America

Bank of America reiterated their underperform rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $256.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AMGN. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $319.68.

Amgen Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $274.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $303.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $315.16. Amgen has a 1 year low of $257.80 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 121.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth about $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.