Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on AMPH. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $22.50.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of AMPH opened at $27.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53, a PEG ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.40. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $16.65 and a fifty-two week high of $29.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.30.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The company had revenue of $183.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.92 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO William Peters sold 8,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.48, for a total transaction of $183,886.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 172,846 shares in the company, valued at $3,885,578.08. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Rong Zhou sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.94, for a total transaction of $239,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 169,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,050,719.82. The trade was a 5.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 33,479 shares of company stock valued at $763,922 over the last three months. 29.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMPH. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 183.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. 65.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets injectable, inhalation and intranasal products. The company focuses on technically challenging medicines, including complex generics, proprietary products and products based on its drug-delivery technologies.

Its product portfolio includes Primatene MIST, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhaler; Baqsimi, a nasal glucagon product used to treat severe hypoglycemia; and injectable medicines such as glucagon, naloxone, enoxaparin and hyaluronidase.