Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Upgraded to Hold at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

AMGN has been the subject of a number of other reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group dropped their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.57.

Amgen Trading Down 4.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $14.04 on Wednesday, hitting $281.89. 2,374,094 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,440,503. Amgen has a 12 month low of $260.52 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The stock 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $318.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Amgen by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,765 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 15,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,981,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,744 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $562,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its position in shares of Amgen by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 27,447 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,844,000 after acquiring an additional 5,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after acquiring an additional 538,545 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.