Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Bought by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 87,595 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. Amgen comprises 2.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $28,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its holdings in Amgen by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,566,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 11.0% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,758,000 after acquiring an additional 2,353 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in Amgen by 88.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 78,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,162,000 after purchasing an additional 36,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 3.2% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. now owns 106,538 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,328,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 target price (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.57.

Amgen Trading Down 0.9 %

AMGN stock opened at $278.76 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $260.52 and a one year high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $149.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $319.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $318.65. 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 released 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 net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.