Erste Group Bank Upgrades Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) to “Buy”

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) was upgraded by Erste Group Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Finviz reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AMGN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Amgen from $280.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $343.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $400.00 target price on Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $335.65.

Amgen Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $3.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $336.74. The company had a trading volume of 116,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,738,517. The business’s fifty day moving average is $312.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $181.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.45. Amgen has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.38.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical research company reported $5.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $9.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 19.47% and a return on equity of 162.59%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.58 earnings per share. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.600-21.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.24, for a total transaction of $299,253.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,082 shares in the company, valued at $2,381,251.68. This trade represents a 11.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 3,139 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.26, for a total transaction of $1,058,659.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,436,703.50. The trade was a 30.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,908 shares of company stock worth $3,674,966. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,226 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 21.1% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in Amgen in the first quarter valued at approximately $99,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 107.9% during the 1st quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 8,735 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,721,000 after buying an additional 4,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Canyon Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,620,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by 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.