Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,820,000 shares, a decline of 5.9% from the October 15th total of 9,370,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,850,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Amgen from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial downgraded Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the company from $320.00 to $333.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $333.57.

Amgen Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $2.58 during trading on Monday, reaching $278.76. The stock had a trading volume of 3,174,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,456,979. Amgen has a 52 week low of $260.52 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm's fifty day moving average is $320.85 and its 200 day moving average is $318.65. The stock has a market cap of $149.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Amgen's payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

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.