Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Purchases 178,304 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 54.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 504,280 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 178,304 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Amgen worth $131,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,882 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 561.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,117,000 after buying an additional 1,306,982 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 9,058.1% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $223,897,000 after acquiring an additional 748,200 shares in the last quarter. 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Amgen stock traded down $2.53 on Friday, reaching $261.68. 595,318 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,690,109. The company has a market capitalization of $140.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. 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’s 50-day moving average is $280.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $309.15.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict 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 issued a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.