XML Financial LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

XML Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,167 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 361 shares during the quarter. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in Amgen by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Unionview LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.8% in the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.3% during the third quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 807 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AMGN. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $274.81 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $306.92. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.