Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) have received an average rating of “Reduce” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.50.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price target (down from $25.00) on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 29th.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of AMPH opened at $23.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.40. The company has a market capitalization of $986.03 million, a P/E ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50-day moving average is $20.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.61. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $16.65 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $183.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.92 million. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 14.98%. Research analysts predict that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Rong Zhou sold 3,187 shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total transaction of $75,308.81. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 169,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,998,266.89. The trade was a 1.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard K. Prins sold 7,973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.30, for a total value of $161,851.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 29,625 shares in the company, valued at $601,387.50. This represents a 21.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 19,340 shares of company stock worth $421,047 in the last ninety days. 29.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 82.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 53,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,555,000 after purchasing an additional 24,167 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 22,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 43.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 60,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after purchasing an additional 18,133 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,865,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 386,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,885,000 after buying an additional 27,828 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.09% of the company’s stock.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Founded in 2004, Amphastar focuses on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of injectable and inhalation products. The company’s manufacturing facilities in California produce both generic and proprietary formulations designed to address urgent and chronic medical conditions.

Amphastar’s portfolio includes a range of injectable generics such as epinephrine, naloxone and lidocaine, serving hospital, emergency medical and retail pharmacy channels.