Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Trims Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 268,960 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,002 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.05% of Amgen worth $84,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in 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 worth $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 28,684.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $236,924,000 after buying an additional 830,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position 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 period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. Bank of America upped their price target on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus lifted their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.28.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

AMGN stock 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 price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $329.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.70 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.