Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,039 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,048 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $23,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Amgen by 547.8% during the first 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. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st 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. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 137.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,377,007 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 28,684.1% in the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $236,924,000 after purchasing an additional 830,405 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Amgen by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after purchasing an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America upped their price target on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus raised their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.28.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $337.38 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $180.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $329.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $306.03. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.70 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. 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.