Leibman Financial Services Inc. Boosts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Leibman Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,800 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 818 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up approximately 2.4% of Leibman Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Leibman Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Two investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Trading Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $270.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $278.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $308.35. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $145.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. 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 3.52%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.90%.

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.