Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) Stock Now Rated “Reduce” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.50.

AMPH has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. 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 research report on Monday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Rong Zhou sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.94, for a total value of $239,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 169,203 shares in the company, valued at $4,050,719.82. This represents a 5.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO William J. Peters sold 4,139 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $103,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 168,707 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,675. The trade was a 2.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 33,479 shares of company stock valued at $763,922 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 29.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $142,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $232,000. 65.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of AMPH stock opened at $25.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $22.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.80. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $16.65 and a 12-month high of $29.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets injectable, inhaled and intranasal products. The company focuses on technically challenging medicines, including generic and proprietary products used in emergency care, respiratory treatment, diabetes management and other therapeutic areas.

Its marketed products include Primatene MIST, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhaler for temporary relief of mild, intermittent asthma symptoms; BAQSIMI, a ready-to-use nasal glucagon product for severe hypoglycemia; glucagon injection; Amphadase, a hyaluronidase product; and enoxaparin, an anticoagulant.