Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Hits New 1-Year High on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $31.00 and last traded at $28.0350, with a volume of 104,578 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.66.

The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $207.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.52 million. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 10.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMPH. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $23.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO William J. Peters sold 4,139 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $103,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 168,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,217,675. This trade represents a 2.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Richard K. 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 transaction of $161,851.90. Following the sale, the director directly owned 29,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $601,387.50. This 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 have sold 25,299 shares of company stock worth $580,036. Insiders own 29.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMPH. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $4,689,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,027,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,726,000 after purchasing an additional 228,262 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,286,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,761,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 375,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,587,000 after purchasing an additional 109,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.09% of the company’s stock.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 16.90, a PEG ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.31.

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.