Archford Capital Strategies LLC Has $1.52 Million Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Archford Capital Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,834 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,421,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Unionview LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.3% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $275.42 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $271.39 and its 200-day moving average is $305.99. The stock has a market cap of $148.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Redburn Partners lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.65.

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.