Lazari Capital Management Inc. Has $740,000 Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,367 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 49 shares during the quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,084 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,081,354 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $311,452,000 after acquiring an additional 338,515 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Amgen by 314.7% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 103,567 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,829,000 after buying an additional 78,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 113,415 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $32,665,000 after buying an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $405.00 target price on the stock. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.55.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $320.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $328.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $308.48. The company has a market cap of $171.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.76, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.70 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 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.