Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc decreased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 268,960 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,002 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Amgen were worth $84,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. United Community Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus boosted their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.28.

Amgen Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $337.38 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $249.70 and a one year high of $346.85. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $329.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $305.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.20, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its 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). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 128.57%.

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.