NewSquare Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

NewSquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,310 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $6,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 15,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,105,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 3.1% in the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 9,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,586,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Essex LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $228,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp raised its stake in Amgen by 4.9% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 6,953 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,869,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. SVB Leerink downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

Amgen stock traded up $1.63 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $273.54. The stock had a trading volume of 2,493,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,845,341. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $211.71 and a fifty-two week high of $329.72. The company has a market cap of $146.72 billion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $276.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. Amgen’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

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.