Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Brighton Jones LLC

Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,226 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lincoln Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp now owns 1,713 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,871 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,270,000 after buying an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co increased its position in Amgen by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 1,267 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $330,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Apeiron RIA LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Apeiron RIA LLC now owns 2,744 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,186 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN opened at $277.88 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $149.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $271.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $306.43. 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Amgen’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. 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 3.43%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Redburn Partners decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

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.