Mechanics Bank Trust Department Raises Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,554 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMGN. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. United Community Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 2,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 104 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 56.9% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 113 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Argus increased their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. William Blair raised shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays raised shares of Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price objective (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.89.

Amgen Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $2.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $322.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,786,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,646,529. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.99 billion, a PE ratio of 46.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day moving average is $318.39 and its 200 day moving average is $298.79. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $248.38 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.00 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

Amgen Company 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.