HM Payson & Co. Has $64.18 Million Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

HM Payson & Co. decreased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 199,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,933 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for about 1.1% of HM Payson & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $64,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,444 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $787,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $253,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 235 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its position in Amgen by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 15,385 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,957,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,944 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,171,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.55.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $2.43 during trading on Thursday, hitting $317.97. 167,525 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,408,827. 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 $170.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $324.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $314.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. 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.