Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC reduced its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,739 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 580 shares during the period. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth about $56,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AMGN. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lowered 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. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.65.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $275.42 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $271.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $305.99. The firm has a market cap of $148.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.