Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $257.00 and last traded at $257.11, with a volume of 170649 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $258.78.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Dbs Bank raised Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $319.68.

Amgen Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $313.94. The company has a market cap of $138.72 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.55. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 121.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 957 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at $107,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 13,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,156,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JB Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 1,212.2% during the second quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 10,576 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after purchasing an additional 9,770 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.