Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Has $602,000 Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 73.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,869 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Amgen were worth $602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045,657 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 547.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Amgen by 6.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $844,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162,223 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Amgen by 137.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its stake in Amgen by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,237,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $635,179,000 after buying an additional 481,214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN opened at $321.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $326.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $312.15. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price target (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $329.48.

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.