Guardian Investment Management Reduces Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Guardian Investment Management reduced its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,078 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,049 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for about 3.6% of Guardian Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 83,875.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,541,011 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,980,571,000 after buying an additional 7,532,031 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $1,351,778,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Amgen by 158.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,950,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $774,791,000 after buying an additional 1,806,456 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $4,589,900,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Amgen by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,301,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,493,471,000 after buying an additional 1,523,665 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. SVB Leerink downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.95.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $263.22. 968,211 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,836,502. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $211.71 and a one year high of $329.72. The stock has a market cap of $141.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $277.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $281.37.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

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.