Analysts at Barclays on Tuesday initiated coverage of Amgen, Inc. AMGN at Equal-weight, setting a $180 price target of. Amgen develops medicines for the treatment of human illnesses and conditions such as cancer, kidney disease and inflammation.
Insider Selling
In December 2014, Amgen director Francois de Carbonnel sold $504,000 of Amgen stock at prices ranging from $166.75 to $169.28.
Amgen's Strong Performance
Amgen delivered strong earnings numbers throughout 2014, beating consensus earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters by an average of 11 percent. The company’s latest 2014 guidance is for earnings of $8.45-$8.55 per share on revenue of $19.8 billion to $20 billion. In addition, Amgen boosted its dividend for Q1 2015 by 30 percent and plans to return more than 60 percent of its adjusted net income to shareholders through 2018.
Potential Upside
Amgen was recently down 2.8 percent at around $153.70. Barclay’s $180 price target represents about a 16.1 percent upside for the stock from current levels. Amgen has soared over the past year, jumping more than 35 percent.
Other Analyst Action
Morgan Stanley on Monday downgraded Amgen from Overweight to Equal-weight and set a $177 price target. On January 3, Zacks Research Group upgraded Amgen to Strong Buy, citing the company’s positive track record of performance and its projected 8.9 percent projected growth rate as reasons for the upgrade.
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