Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Grows Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,834 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its position in Amgen by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,430 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 62.0% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,550 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,750,000 after purchasing an additional 4,038 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,854 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,430,000 after buying an additional 1,768 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 80,892 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $21,084,000 after buying an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 2,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 682 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Redburn Partners lowered their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $272.11 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $273.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $307.22. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 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.