Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 36,019 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 625,305 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,019 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.12% of Amgen worth $195,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 295.3% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,684 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 2,752 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 103,117 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,700,000 after acquiring an additional 2,552 shares during the period. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 35.5% during the fourth quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,369 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 120,997 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,850,000 after buying an additional 992 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $337.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.70 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.20, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $329.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.00 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current 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 issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMGN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.28.

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.