Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Trims Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA reduced its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 65,075 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 903 shares during the quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Amgen were worth $20,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 547.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Amgen by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $844,137,000 after acquiring an additional 162,223 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Amgen by 6,812.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,130,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,882 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock traded down $3.59 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $312.41. 107,537 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,409,424. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $325.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $314.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $167.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $362.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.55.

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.