Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Raises Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 14.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 42,959 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 5,377 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $13,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Amgen by 547.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of 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 worth $1,890,769,000 after acquiring an additional 243,720 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Amgen by 14.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.28.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $337.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.20, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $329.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $305.62. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.70 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.00 earnings per share. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio 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.