Essex Financial Services Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Essex Financial Services Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,093 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,035,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,178,910,000 after purchasing an additional 165,636 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,977,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,875,306,000 after purchasing an additional 255,463 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Amgen by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,437,182 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,461,297,000 after purchasing an additional 61,528 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 518,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,356,359 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $902,055,000 after purchasing an additional 459,340 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AMGN. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. SVB Leerink downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, April 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Amgen Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $277.37 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $211.71 and a 52 week 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. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.35. The firm has a market cap of $148.78 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

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.