Avestar Capital LLC Boosts Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Avestar Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 344 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its stake in Amgen by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,566,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.2% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,581,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Napa Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,104,000. Finally, Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,413,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on AMGN shares. UBS Group cut their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a 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, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.57.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN opened at $261.43 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $315.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $318.05. 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 firm has a market cap of $140.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $260.68 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

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.