Occidental Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,074 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,973 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the third quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors grew its stake in Amgen by 1.3% during the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Unionview LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 807 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMGN. Citigroup cut their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $269.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $276.06 and a 200 day moving average of $307.76.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is a boost 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 is currently 115.24%.

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.