CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 827 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 91 shares during the quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. United Community Bank acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Amgen by 2,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 104 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho raised their target price on Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.89.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $0.58 on Tuesday, hitting $328.55. 1,352,484 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,599,579. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $321.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.38 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

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.