Argent Capital Management LLC Has $8.13 Million Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Argent Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 66.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,173 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 62,137 shares during the quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 30.4% during the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,442 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,137,000 after purchasing an additional 3,833 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its holdings in Amgen by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 16,243 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,075,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance increased its holdings in Amgen by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 11,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Amgen by 29.3% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,739 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new position in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth about $312,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $268.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.56 billion, a PE ratio of 34.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day moving average is $277.12 and its 200-day moving average is $308.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.90%.

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.