Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Lowers Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC lessened its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,888 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Roundview Capital LLC raised its position in Amgen by 1.3% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 8,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 39.2% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,297 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the first quarter valued at about $219,000. First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the first quarter valued at about $334,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.1% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,688 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,970,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.95.

Amgen Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of AMGN stock traded up $6.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $268.93. 3,380,330 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,077,465. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $276.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $281.40. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $329.72. The stock has a market cap of $144.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.58. 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 released its earnings results 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. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

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.