Montag A & Associates Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Montag A & Associates Inc. cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,718 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Amgen by 547.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Amgen by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,890,769,000 after buying an additional 243,720 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after acquiring an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $1,556,912,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Argus increased their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.89.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $333.83 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market cap of $179.38 billion, a PE ratio of 47.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $324.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.85. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $248.38 and a 52 week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

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.