Morton Community Bank Acquires 472 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Morton Community Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,907 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the quarter. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $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% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.9% in 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 buying an additional 243,720 shares during the period. 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 worth $1,679,625,000 after buying an additional 751,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $1,556,912,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price objective (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.28.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $3.80 on Friday, hitting $320.56. 2,242,451 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,541,291. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $326.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $302.25. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.70 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

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.