William Blair Has Negative Outlook of Amgen FY2024 Earnings

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) – Research analysts at William Blair cut their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Amgen in a research note issued on Tuesday, January 21st. William Blair analyst M. Phipps now expects that the medical research company will post earnings of $19.56 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $19.62. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Amgen’s current full-year earnings is $19.57 per share.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $273.44 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $306.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS.

Institutional Trading of Amgen

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 74.2% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 20,647 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,451,000 after buying an additional 8,795 shares during the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 31.7% during the second quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,864 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth $201,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in Amgen by 591.7% during the 2nd quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 125,886 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,333,000 after purchasing an additional 107,686 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 128.4% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 325,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $101,781,000 after buying an additional 183,151 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

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.