Cetera Trust Company N.A Decreases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Cetera Trust Company N.A lowered its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,228 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 265 shares during the period. Amgen comprises 1.8% of Cetera Trust Company N.A’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Cetera Trust Company N.A’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Amgen by 547.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Amgen by 6.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $844,137,000 after buying an additional 162,223 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 137.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,237,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $635,179,000 after buying an additional 481,214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $362.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.55.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock traded down $0.91 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $315.83. The company had a trading volume of 336,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,432,981. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $326.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $312.76. The company has a market capitalization of $169.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

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.