Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $18.52 and last traded at $18.77, with a volume of 548286 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AMPH shares. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Barclays assumed coverage on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research lowered Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.27. The firm has a market cap of $824.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a current ratio of 4.02.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $183.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.48 million. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 17.58% and a net margin of 13.63%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

In other Amphastar Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Rong Zhou sold 9,787 shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total transaction of $256,419.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 138,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,616,726.60. The trade was a 6.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 27.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 2,864.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 177,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,760,000 after purchasing an additional 171,748 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 501,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,428,000 after buying an additional 111,811 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 20,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 1,978 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,394,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,344,000 after buying an additional 40,536 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 165,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,443,000 after buying an additional 16,112 shares during the last quarter. 65.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.