Jacobs & Co. CA Reduces Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Jacobs & Co. CA decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,254 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 739 shares during the quarter. Amgen comprises about 1.5% of Jacobs & Co. CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in Amgen were worth $13,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Amgen by 83,875.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,541,011 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,980,571,000 after purchasing an additional 7,532,031 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $1,351,778,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Amgen by 158.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,950,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $774,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,456 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Amgen by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,301,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,493,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Amgen by 164.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,337,970 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $323,548,000 after purchasing an additional 832,885 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $286.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $290.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.66. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $211.71 and a 12 month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. Amgen’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.30.

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.