Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 30,634 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,943,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 30,634 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $608,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. United Community Bank bought a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus boosted their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.37.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $319.10 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $329.18 and its 200 day moving average is $306.91. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.00 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.