Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Buys 2,766 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 44.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,923 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,766 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 25.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,357,000 after buying an additional 2,130 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.0% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 440,348 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $141,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,358 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Amgen by 17.4% during the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 7,116 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,293,000 after buying an additional 1,053 shares during the period. Finally, Private Client Services LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $225,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMGN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 target price (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.30.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $317.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $170.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $327.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $309.48. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

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). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 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.