Wallington Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Wallington Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,789 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up approximately 1.6% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $10,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 80,892 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $21,084,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its position in shares of Amgen by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 2,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 3,825 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 92,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $24,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management boosted its stake in Amgen by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management now owns 14,157 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,690,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $272.11 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $307.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

Amgen Company 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.