Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Rating Lowered to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Barclays raised their price target on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $22.50.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMPH opened at $25.14 on Friday. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $16.65 and a twelve month high of $29.52. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.47.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $183.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.92 million. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 10.76%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO William J. Peters sold 4,139 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $103,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,217,675. This trade represents a 2.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Richard K. Prins sold 7,973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.30, for a total transaction of $161,851.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 29,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $601,387.50. The trade was a 21.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,479 shares of company stock valued at $763,922. 29.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 12.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,027,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,726,000 after purchasing an additional 228,262 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 553,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,851,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% in the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 452,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,872,000 after purchasing an additional 17,318 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 41.1% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 375,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,587,000 after purchasing an additional 109,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 47.1% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 261,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,122,000 after purchasing an additional 83,739 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.09% of the company’s stock.

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.