Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 74,900 Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 74,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,573,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Southland Equity Partners LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 999 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,868 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $743,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evanson Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. Raymond James began coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $286.00 to $326.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Leerink Partnrs cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.30.

Amgen Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $2.72 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $267.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,140,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,594,482. The company has a market capitalization of $143.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $211.71 and a 12 month high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $280.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $281.38.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.09 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.06%.

Amgen 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.