Delta Financial Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Delta Financial Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,282 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 606 shares during the period. Amgen comprises about 1.2% of Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,673,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AMGN shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.95.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $0.47 on Thursday, hitting $264.54. 500,576 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,830,421. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $277.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.37. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $211.71 and a 1-year high of $329.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

About Amgen

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.