Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $324.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on AMGN. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.65.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $275.42 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $271.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $306.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. Amgen has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $148.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Amgen by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after purchasing an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 2.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after purchasing an additional 251,876 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 11.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.