Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Buys 8,271 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 46.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,134 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,271 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Amgen by 547.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 137.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in Amgen by 28,684.1% in the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $236,924,000 after purchasing an additional 830,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Amgen by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after purchasing an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $332.80 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $249.70 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.54, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $329.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $304.81. 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during 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%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.00 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus upped their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.28.

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.