Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Stock: Insider William Peters Sells 12,631 Shares

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPH) CFO William Peters sold 12,631 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total transaction of $366,172.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 167,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,843,533.24. This trade represents a 7.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.0%

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $28.49 on Friday. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.65 and a 1-year high of $31.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.33.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $207.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.52 million. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.27% and a return on equity of 15.49%. On average, analysts predict that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 473.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 10,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 8,294 shares in the last quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 383,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,908,000 after acquiring an additional 45,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. 65.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMPH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 1st. Barclays raised their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research upgraded Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.