Old North State Trust LLC Acquires 104 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Old North State Trust LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,666 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 5.1% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $390,000. Silver Lake Advisory LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 38.5% in the 2nd quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC now owns 1,076 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at $128,000. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,168 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $319.68.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $274.06 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $303.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $314.87. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $257.80 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $147.32 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released 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 business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 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.