Krane Funds Advisors LLC Takes Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Krane Funds Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 927 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045,657 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 137.1% in the 1st 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 lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 28,684.1% during 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, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 9,058.1% in the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $223,897,000 after purchasing an additional 748,200 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMGN. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $362.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial cut Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $405.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.55.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $316.74 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.70 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $169.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $326.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.76.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). The company 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 revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

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.