Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Royal Bank of Canada

by · The Cerbat Gem

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Free Report) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has $300.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $256.00.

Several other analysts have also commented on AMGN. SVB Leerink upgraded shares of Amgen from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the company from $267.00 to $318.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $265.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, HSBC began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. They issued a buy rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $280.35.

View Our Latest Report on AMGN

Amgen Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $275.45 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $271.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $253.08. The stock has a market cap of $147.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $288.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.71.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The medical research company reported $4.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.65 by $0.31. Amgen had a net margin of 28.20% and a return on equity of 165.37%. The firm had revenue of $6.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Amgen will post 18.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 15th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 60.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,096 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.03, for a total value of $572,270.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,874 shares in the company, valued at $2,968,928.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $2,728,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,659,959.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,096 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.03, for a total transaction of $572,270.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,968,928.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $136,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 427.2% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 659 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,324 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,506,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 669 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 135,854 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,512,000 after purchasing an additional 27,874 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.44% of the company’s stock.

About Amgen

(Get Free Report)

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. It focuses on inflammation, oncology/hematology, bone health, cardiovascular disease, nephrology, and neuroscience areas. The company's products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Neulasta that reduces the chance of infection due a low white blood cell count in patients cancer; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; Xgeva for skeletal-related events prevention; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; and Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization.

Recommended Stories