Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Acquires 37 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,613 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Amgen makes up approximately 0.8% of Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Amgen were worth $1,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in Amgen by 547.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,890,769,000 after acquiring an additional 243,720 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Amgen by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,679,625,000 after acquiring an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth $1,556,912,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 target price (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.89.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $2.78 on Thursday, reaching $327.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 86,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,531,979. The company has a market capitalization of $175.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $325.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $301.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $248.38 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Amgen Company 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.