New Century Financial Group LLC Has $788,000 Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

New Century Financial Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,016 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 584 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Talbot Financial LLC raised its position in Amgen by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% in the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 3.2% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $277.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $271.91 and a 200-day moving average of $306.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AMGN. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen 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.