Howard Financial Services LTD. Buys 153 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,098 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital International Investors boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.2% in 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 last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Amgen by 137.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 28,684.1% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Amgen by 14.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $316.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $326.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $310.06. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $249.70 and a twelve 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. Amgen’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 target price (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities 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, Amgen has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.30.

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.