Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $22.50 According to Brokerages

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.50.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. 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 research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Richard Prins sold 7,973 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.30, for a total transaction of $161,851.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 29,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $601,387.50. This represents a 21.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rong Zhou sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.94, for a total transaction of $239,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 169,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,050,719.82. This represents a 5.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,479 shares of company stock worth $763,922. 29.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,689,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $2,761,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,580,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 54.6% during the 1st quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 187,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,670,000 after acquiring an additional 66,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 178.0% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 78,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after acquiring an additional 50,450 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.09% of the company’s stock.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of AMPH stock opened at $27.72 on Friday. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $16.65 and a fifty-two week high of $29.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.29. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 10.76%. The business had revenue of $183.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.92 million. On average, analysts forecast that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

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.