WESPAC Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

WESPAC Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 30.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keynote Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.6% during the second quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 4,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 6,477 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $294.53 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $316.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $318.11. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.68 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $158.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.71, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.57.

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.