InvesTrust Acquires Shares of 1,031 Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

InvesTrust bought a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,031 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Dbs Bank upgraded Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $317.30.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $262.79. 1,051,681 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,837,700. The company has a market capitalization of $141.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $282.38 and its 200-day moving average is $309.78. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.62%. This is an increase 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 (DPR) is presently 121.90%.

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.