1,126 Shares in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Acquired by Cannon Financial Strategists Inc.

Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,126 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,890,769,000 after buying an additional 243,720 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Amgen by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,679,625,000 after purchasing an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Amgen by 6.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $844,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162,223 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.55.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $320.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.76, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $249.70 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $328.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $308.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

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.