Amgen’s (AMGN) “Underperform” Rating Reiterated at Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird reaffirmed their underperform rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $215.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Dbs Bank upgraded Amgen to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Amgen from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a buy rating and issued a $380.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $325.55.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $322.67 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $328.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.54. The company has a market cap of $173.09 billion, a PE ratio of 46.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. Amgen has a twelve month low of $249.70 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 547.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 137.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 28,684.1% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $236,924,000 after buying an additional 830,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after buying an additional 751,947 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Amgen

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.