Welch Group LLC Buys New Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Welch Group LLC bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 851 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. United Community Bank purchased a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 2,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 104 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $328.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.85.

Amgen Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $309.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.44 and a 12 month high of $329.72. The company has a market cap of $166.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $295.75 and a 200-day moving average of $290.30.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.