Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 35.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,361 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 30,626 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $17,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position 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 worth $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Amgen by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,890,769,000 after acquiring an additional 243,720 shares during the last quarter. 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 buying an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Amgen by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $844,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162,223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.28.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $337.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap 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 current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $329.57 and a 200-day moving average of $305.82. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.70 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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 company 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid 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 Company 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.