Summit Global Investments Sells 9,278 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Summit Global Investments decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 65.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,879 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 9,278 shares during the quarter. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Amgen were worth $1,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its position in shares of Amgen by 242.2% in the 4th quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,255,000 after buying an additional 16,985 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 285.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 394,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $102,820,000 after buying an additional 292,137 shares during the period. Aire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 13,280 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,461,000 after buying an additional 2,762 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,531,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 1.8%

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

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 18th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on 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.