North Star Asset Management Inc. Purchases 40 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

North Star Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $4,589,900,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Amgen by 486.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $258,997,000 after acquiring an additional 745,929 shares during the period. abrdn plc raised its stake in Amgen by 150.4% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,043,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,580,000 after acquiring an additional 626,810 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Amgen by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,365,213,000 after acquiring an additional 518,689 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $128,425,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Raymond James started coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. 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, April 17th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $296.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $2.72 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $271.65. 447,335 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,826,927. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $276.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G 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 Inc. has a one year low of $211.71 and a one year high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released 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. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.