LS Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

LS Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 15.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,701 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 687 shares during the quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1,292.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after purchasing an additional 6,029,058 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $1,541,991,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 43,573.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,661,589 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,140,768,000 after buying an additional 3,653,205 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Amgen by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,182,843,000 after buying an additional 3,495,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after buying an additional 2,672,975 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AMGN shares. Bank of America increased their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $329.00 to $328.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, May 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.22.

Amgen Trading Down 0.9%

AMGN stock opened at $287.01 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $154.33 billion, a PE ratio of 38.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $282.39 and its 200 day moving average is $285.31.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

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.