Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Bought by WealthTrust Axiom LLC

WealthTrust Axiom LLC lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,793 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. WealthTrust Axiom LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,381,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Amgen Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded down $1.61 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $274.77. 1,058,518 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,798,923. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $211.71 and a 1 year high of $329.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The business has a 50 day moving average of $274.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.45.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

About Amgen

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.