Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Holdings Cut by Carr Financial Group Corp

Carr Financial Group Corp lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,920 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 269 shares during the period. Carr Financial Group Corp’s holdings in Amgen were worth $910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after purchasing an additional 339,522 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,441,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672,975 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,245,881,000 after acquiring an additional 352,143 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,182,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,495,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Amgen by 1,292.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,693,042,000 after purchasing an additional 6,029,058 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMGN. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $305.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.22.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. This trade represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $289.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70. The firm has a market cap of $155.74 billion, a PE ratio of 26.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $281.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $285.89.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 17.39% and a return on equity of 176.11%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.