Clean Yield Group Lowers Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Clean Yield Group cut its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,058 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 726 shares during the quarter. Clean Yield Group’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 6.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 547.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Amgen by 3.9% during 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 valued at $1,679,625,000 after acquiring an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Amgen by 6.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $844,137,000 after acquiring an additional 162,223 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $362.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.30.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $317.89 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $327.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $309.48. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $249.70 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $170.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its 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 during 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 quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio 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.