Courier Capital LLC Sells 3,887 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Courier Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,721 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,887 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the second quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Amgen in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $286.00 to $326.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Amgen from $315.00 to $314.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Amgen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $264.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.30.

Amgen Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $286.30 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $153.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $329.72. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $290.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. Amgen’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.06%.

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.