Raymond James & Associates Has $318.83 Million Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Raymond James & Associates lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 989,504 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 71,201 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Amgen were worth $318,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 5.2% in the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 10,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,239,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,682 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,043 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $652,000. Finally, Precedent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 8.8% during the third quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,685,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, September 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $405.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America upped their price target on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $362.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $329.48.

Amgen Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $321.66. The company had a trading volume of 1,552,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,447,665. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $172.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $326.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $311.90. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.70 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

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.