MCF Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,162 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Northwest Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc now owns 3,002 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $865,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 43,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,603,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $2,963,000. Nikulski Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 2,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 367,586 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $105,872,000 after purchasing an additional 3,830 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded up $6.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $268.93. The stock had a trading volume of 3,380,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,077,465. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The firm has a market cap of $144.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $276.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.40. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $211.71 and a 52-week high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.09 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 3.35%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group reduced their target price on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.95.

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.