Howard Financial Services LTD. Cuts Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Howard Financial Services LTD. cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 159 shares during the quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bath Savings Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.0% in the first quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 953 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Exeter Financial LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.5% during the first quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 11,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,614,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Legacy Private Trust Co. boosted its stake in Amgen by 7.9% during the first quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 8,322 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,593,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Amgen by 48.6% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,817 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $566,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Common Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 129.0% during the first quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 49,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,489,000 after buying an additional 28,004 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN stock opened at $283.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $283.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $285.50. The company has a market capitalization of $152.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.56, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 86.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $309.22.

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.