Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Stock Rating Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on AMPH. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target (down from $25.00) on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $22.50.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMPH opened at $25.14 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.30 and its 200 day moving average is $21.46. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $16.65 and a 12-month high of $29.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 10.76%. The business had revenue of $183.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.92 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Rong Zhou sold 10,000 shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.94, for a total transaction of $239,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 169,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,050,719.82. This trade represents a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard Prins sold 7,973 shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.30, for a total value of $161,851.90. Following the sale, the director owned 29,625 shares in the company, valued at $601,387.50. This trade represents a 21.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 33,479 shares of company stock valued at $763,922. 29.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 12,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 2,937 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 183.3% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 920 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $609,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 178.0% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 78,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,590,000 after buying an additional 50,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $3,286,000. 65.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets injectable, inhalation and intranasal products. The company focuses on technically challenging medicines, including complex generics, proprietary products and products based on its drug-delivery technologies.

Its product portfolio includes Primatene MIST, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhaler; Baqsimi, a nasal glucagon product used to treat severe hypoglycemia; and injectable medicines such as glucagon, naloxone, enoxaparin and hyaluronidase.