Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,712 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 3.2% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,552 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,433,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $262.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $279.10 and a 200 day moving average of $308.69. The company has a market cap of $140.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.58, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.90%.

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.