Wealth Alliance Reduces Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Wealth Alliance lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,634 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,347 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,035,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,178,910,000 after buying an additional 165,636 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Amgen by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,301,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,493,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,665 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Amgen by 1.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,819,690 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,132,778,000 after purchasing an additional 94,565 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Amgen by 83,875.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,541,011 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,980,571,000 after purchasing an additional 7,532,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Amgen by 3.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,977,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,875,306,000 after purchasing an additional 255,463 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $265.50. The stock had a trading volume of 1,218,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,860,160. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $279.63 and its 200 day moving average is $281.52. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $211.71 and a one year high of $329.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.58. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.09 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Amgen from $315.00 to $314.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Amgen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $264.00 to $320.00 in a report on Thursday, December 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $286.00 to $326.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.30.

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.