RKL Wealth Management LLC Purchases 480 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

RKL Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,353 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. RKL Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $436,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,566,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,758,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353 shares during the period. Cornerstone Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. now owns 106,538 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,328,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,354,000. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 82,368 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price objective (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $362.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.50.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN opened at $325.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $260.52 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $323.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $317.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.