Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Raised to Hold at Citigroup

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Citigroup to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 target price (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.57.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $14.04 on Wednesday, reaching $281.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,374,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,440,503. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $321.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $318.00. Amgen has a 1 year low of $260.52 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The company has a market capitalization of $151.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Amgen by 547.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 6,812.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,130,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,882 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Amgen by 137.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Amgen by 561.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,117,000 after buying an additional 1,306,982 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Company Profile

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.