Captrust Financial Advisors Increases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 583,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 14,253 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors owned about 0.11% of Amgen worth $188,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 1st quarter worth $152,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Amgen by 268.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 233,379 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $66,355,000 after purchasing an additional 170,108 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 151.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 70,984 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $20,182,000 after buying an additional 42,739 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 111,213 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,620,000 after buying an additional 1,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 86,987 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $24,732,000 after buying an additional 6,798 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Stock Up 0.0 %

AMGN opened at $280.07 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $257.80 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $312.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $317.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The company has a market cap of $150.55 billion, a PE ratio of 35.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.52 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMGN. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.05.

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.