Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Position Cut by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 788,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 68,049 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.15% of Amgen worth $227,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $4,589,900,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Amgen by 486.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $258,997,000 after purchasing an additional 745,929 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its stake in Amgen by 150.4% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,043,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,580,000 after purchasing an additional 626,810 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Amgen by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,365,213,000 after purchasing an additional 518,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Amgen by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,716,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $782,288,000 after purchasing an additional 490,539 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. SVB Leerink downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.95.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $2.98 during trading on Monday, reaching $271.91. The stock had a trading volume of 2,165,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,849,916. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $211.71 and a 52 week high of $329.72. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $276.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.85 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.