Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $346.38 and last traded at $345.7960, with a volume of 1794519 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $338.36.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMGN. Wells Fargo & Company set a $400.00 target price on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $280.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. 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. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $261.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $335.65.

Amgen Stock Up 2.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $186.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $309.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $296.07.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical research company reported $5.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.63. Amgen had a return on equity of 162.59% and a net margin of 19.47%.The company had revenue of $9.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.58 earnings per share. Amgen’s quarterly 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 3,139 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,436,703.50. This represents a 30.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 6,879 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.83, for a total transaction of $2,317,053.57. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 41,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,120,924.09. This trade represents a 14.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 10,908 shares of company stock worth $3,674,966 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 8,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,318,000 after buying an additional 638 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Amgen by 2.3% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 271,340 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $76,572,000 after acquiring an additional 6,082 shares during the last quarter. Stillwater Wealth Management Group purchased a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at about $2,035,000. Investment Research Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth about $1,060,000. Finally, Cambria Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth about $363,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.