Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $346.38 and last traded at $345.7960, with a volume of 1794519 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $338.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $326.00 to $317.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $385.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $318.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $329.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $335.65.

Amgen Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $186.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $309.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $296.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 162.59% and a net margin of 19.47%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.58 earnings per share. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.600-21.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 890 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.24, for a total value of $299,253.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,381,251.68. The trade was a 11.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 3,139 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.26, for a total transaction of $1,058,659.14. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,225 shares in the company, valued at $2,436,703.50. This trade represents a 30.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 10,908 shares of company stock valued at $3,674,966 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,876,851 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,204,047,000 after buying an additional 165,281 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,357,026 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,196,775,000 after acquiring an additional 177,035 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Amgen by 1.5% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,192,995 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,414,296,000 after acquiring an additional 282,219 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,795,474 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,303,578,000 after acquiring an additional 1,935,876 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,018,617 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,619,489,000 after purchasing an additional 291,271 shares during the last quarter. 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.