Martin Capital Partners LLC Sells 9,849 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Martin Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 50.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,765 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 9,849 shares during the period. Amgen comprises approximately 3.0% of Martin Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Martin Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Amgen by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after acquiring an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 2.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after purchasing an additional 251,876 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Amgen by 11.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on 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 report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.00.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $289.02 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.36 billion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $271.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $303.52.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.