Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Purchases 5,377 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 14.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,959 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 5,377 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $13,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Keynote Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the second quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 4,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 17.1% in the first quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 219 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.5% in the second quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 6,477 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Blossom Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Amgen by 3.3% in the second quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,023 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.1% during the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,057 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $955,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 target price (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen raised 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. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.28.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $337.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $249.70 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.20, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $329.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $305.62.

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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

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