Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Bought by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,755 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Amgen by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Amgen by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 231,379 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $74,553,000 after purchasing an additional 88,554 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.1% in the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 18,708 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,022,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 41.6% during the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 19.0% during the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 7,014 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,260,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.57.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $300.29 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $260.52 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $322.15 and a 200 day moving average of $318.15. The firm has a market cap of $161.41 billion, a PE ratio of 38.60, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.