Aspire Capital Advisors LLC Sells 158 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Aspire Capital Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,556 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 158 shares during the period. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $406,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,130,610,000 after buying an additional 2,486,882 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Amgen by 561.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $496,117,000 after buying an additional 1,306,982 shares in the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 9,058.1% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $223,897,000 after acquiring an additional 748,200 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Amgen by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after purchasing an additional 676,598 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Up 2.1 %

Amgen stock opened at $281.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $271.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $305.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $151.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88, a PEG ratio of 2.78 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.00.

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.