Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $342.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $329.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. DZ Bank upped their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $364.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $335.65.

Amgen Stock Down 2.3%

Amgen stock opened at $313.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $169.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.45. Amgen has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $314.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $298.07.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical research company reported $5.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.63. Amgen had a return on equity of 162.59% and a net margin of 19.47%.The firm had revenue of $9.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.58 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.600-21.400 EPS. Research analysts predict that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.24, for a total value of $299,253.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,381,251.68. This represents a 11.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 3,139 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.26, for a total value of $1,058,659.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,436,703.50. The trade was a 30.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 10,908 shares of company stock valued at $3,674,966 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,876,851 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $15,204,047,000 after purchasing an additional 165,281 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Amgen by 0.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,357,026 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,196,775,000 after acquiring an additional 177,035 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Amgen by 1.5% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,192,995 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,414,296,000 after purchasing an additional 282,219 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Amgen by 11.5% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,795,474 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,303,578,000 after buying an additional 1,935,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,018,617 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,619,489,000 after buying an additional 291,271 shares in 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.