Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Holdings Increased by Precedent Wealth Partners LLC

Precedent Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 421 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,566,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 17,378 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,960,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 37.4% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,642 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,310,000 after buying an additional 3,168 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services lifted its stake in Amgen by 19.1% during the first quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 38,067 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,823,000 after buying an additional 6,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 11.0% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,758,000 after buying an additional 2,353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $405.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $329.48.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN opened at $321.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $172.55 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $326.07 and a 200-day moving average of $311.90. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $249.70 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend 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.