Advisory Alpha LLC Acquires New Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Advisory Alpha LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 819 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,421,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 807 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $277.88 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $271.91 and its 200 day moving average is $306.43. The company has a market capitalization of $149.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS 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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

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.