Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,770,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the October 31st total of 6,420,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $272.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. SVB Leerink raised shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.15.

Read Our Latest Analysis on AMGN

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $2,728,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,659,959.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $2,728,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,659,959.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Amgen Inc bought 1,764,705 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.00 per share, with a total value of $29,999,985.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 35,368,653 shares in the company, valued at $601,267,101. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 520.0% in the 2nd quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 124 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. 74.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded up $2.81 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $272.45. 2,303,908 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,061,246. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.71, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $270.05 and its 200 day moving average is $249.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen has a one year low of $211.71 and a one year high of $288.46.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The medical research company reported $4.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.65 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $6.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.92 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 28.20% and a return on equity of 165.37%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.70 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Amgen will post 18.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 17th will be issued a $2.13 dividend. This represents a $8.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.55%.

About Amgen (Get Free Report)

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. It focuses on inflammation, oncology/hematology, bone health, cardiovascular disease, nephrology, and neuroscience areas. The company’s products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Neulasta that reduces the chance of infection due a low white blood cell count in patients cancer; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; Xgeva for skeletal-related events prevention; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet’s disease; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; and Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization.

Further Reading

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Original: MarketBeat News Feed: Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Short Interest Update