Boston Common Asset Management LLC Acquires 21,024 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3,060.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,024 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Saxon Interests Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 2,074 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,410,000. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 13,313 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,470,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 9,748 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,541,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp grew its stake in Amgen by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 48,892 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,743,000 after acquiring an additional 16,481 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Up 1.0 %

AMGN stock opened at $272.11 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 has a market capitalization of $146.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $275.01 and a 200-day moving average of $307.49.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Amgen’s 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.