Optimist Retirement Group LLC Has $259,000 Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 829 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 259 shares during the quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Amgen by 547.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,890,769,000 after purchasing an additional 243,720 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,679,625,000 after buying an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 valued at $844,137,000 after acquiring an additional 162,223 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $332.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.56, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $329.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.00. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $249.70 and a one year high of $346.85.

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 company had revenue of $8.39 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AMGN. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.28.

Amgen 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.