Covenant Asset Management LLC Has $1.69 Million Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Covenant Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,255 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 206 shares during the period. Covenant Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the second quarter worth $33,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.57.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $289.77 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $317.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $318.02. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $260.68 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors 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 3.11%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

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.