Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 116,381 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 851 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Amgen were worth $30,334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Amgen by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,825,000 after purchasing an additional 17,387 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.1% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 109,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,269,000 after acquiring an additional 7,237 shares during the period. City Center Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at $220,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 4.2% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,388 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,736,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Finally, City Holding Co. boosted its position in Amgen by 0.6% in the third quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 10,719 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,454,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $307.81 on Thursday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $271.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $303.52. The company has a market cap of $165.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.00.

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.