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

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

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

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMPH opened at $27.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81, a PEG ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $16.65 and a twelve month high of $29.52. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.29.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.29. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 10.76%. The firm had revenue of $183.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.92 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard K. Prins sold 7,973 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.30, for a total value of $161,851.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 29,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $601,387.50. The trade was a 21.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Rong Zhou sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.94, for a total value of $239,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 169,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,050,719.82. The trade was a 5.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,479 shares of company stock worth $763,922. Company insiders own 29.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMPH. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 183.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 920 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $142,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 745 shares during the period. 65.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

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.