ProShare Advisors LLC Has $206.71 Million Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 661,578 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 50,105 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Amgen worth $206,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Amgen by 547.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Amgen by 137.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 28,684.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $236,924,000 after buying an additional 830,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. 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. Argus increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.28.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $337.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $180.98 billion, a PE ratio of 48.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.70 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $329.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $305.82.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 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 analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

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.