Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lowered its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,559 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 264 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its position in Amgen by 7.2% during the second quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,566,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 37.4% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,642 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,310,000 after acquiring an additional 3,168 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its holdings in Amgen by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 38,067 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,823,000 after acquiring an additional 6,116 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,758,000 after acquiring an additional 2,353 shares during the period. Finally, SMI Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,933,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded up $3.92 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $320.66. The company had a trading volume of 991,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,436,352. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $249.70 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business’s 50-day moving average is $326.00 and its 200-day moving average is $312.76. The stock has a market cap of $172.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AMGN. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.55.

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.