Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) CFO Sells 16,000 Shares of Company Stock

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) CFO William Peters sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $448,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,728,857.21. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of AMPH traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.49. 826,253 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 512,892. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $25.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.31. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.65 and a twelve month high of $31.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.28. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The business had revenue of $207.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.52 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 12.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,027,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,726,000 after buying an additional 228,262 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 553,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,851,000 after buying an additional 9,200 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 452,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,872,000 after buying an additional 17,318 shares during the period. Bridge City Capital LLC grew its stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 383,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,908,000 after buying an additional 45,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC grew its stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 41.1% in the 2nd quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 375,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,587,000 after buying an additional 109,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.09% of the company’s stock.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Amphastar Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Amphastar reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.14 per share, ahead of analyst estimates of $0.78–$0.86 and up from $0.93 a year earlier. Revenue of $207.6 million also topped estimates of $197.52 million. The earnings and revenue beats are the clearest positive catalysts in the recent news. Company earnings release
• Positive Sentiment: GAAP net income was $37.8 million, or $0.87 per share; adjusted non-GAAP net income was $49.3 million, or $1.14 per share. The results suggest solid quarterly profitability alongside the sales growth. Quarterly results
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target from $20 to $25 but kept an “equal weight” rating. The new target remains about 12.2% below the cited current price, which may temper enthusiasm despite the improved target. Wells Fargo price target update

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AMPH. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

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.