Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Short Interest Up 6.1% in September

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,000,000 shares, a growth of 6.1% from the August 31st total of 8,480,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,990,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the first quarter valued at $28,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 182.0% in the 1st quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 141 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMGN. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price target (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.55.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $320.32 on Wednesday. Amgen has a 52 week low of $249.70 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $328.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $308.48. The company has a market cap of $171.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.76, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

Amgen Company Profile

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.