Lansing Street Advisors Increases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Lansing Street Advisors increased its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors’ holdings in Amgen were worth $832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $319.22 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $324.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $315.90. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.52 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $171.53 billion, a PE ratio of 40.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AMGN. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.50.

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.