Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Bought by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,512 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after buying an additional 251,876 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,442,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,431,432,000 after acquiring an additional 264,396 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,247,304 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,368,524,000 after purchasing an additional 181,703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $844,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162,223 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 1.0 %

Amgen stock opened at $282.87 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.80 and a 12-month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $152.05 billion, a PE ratio of 36.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $311.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $317.16.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMGN. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.05.

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.