MCF Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,413 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 940 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Amgen during the second quarter valued at $661,000. Certified Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 16.0% in the second quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 1,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $456,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.8% in the second quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,357 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Amgen by 74.2% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 20,647 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,451,000 after acquiring an additional 8,795 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 2.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 9,057 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,830,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays raised their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN stock opened at $274.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $147.72 billion, a PE ratio of 35.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $272.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $306.92.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.