Congress Asset Management Co. MA Lowers Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Congress Asset Management Co. MA decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,093 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,191 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA’s holdings in Amgen were worth $15,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 1.7% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,133,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 23.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 11.2% in the third quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 8,654 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,326,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Amgen from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho raised their price target on Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays upgraded Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.85.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $308.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96. The company has a market capitalization of $165.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $296.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $290.69. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.44 and a twelve month high of $329.72.

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 company 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.