Sarasin & Partners LLP Lowers Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sarasin & Partners LLP lessened its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 35.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 532,299 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 286,101 shares during the period. Amgen comprises 1.5% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Amgen were worth $138,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Amgen by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors increased its stake in Amgen by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Unionview LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 807 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group dropped 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $272.11 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The company’s 50-day moving average is $273.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $307.20. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.