Meritage Portfolio Management Trims Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 27.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,970 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,639 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 19,048 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Deltec Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $556,000. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Lion Street Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 495,148 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $129,945,000 after buying an additional 92,756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $289.02 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week 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 company has a market cap of $155.36 billion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.52.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.00.

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.