SlateStone Wealth LLC Increases Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,273 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 3,125 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,975,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $4,589,900,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 486.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $258,997,000 after acquiring an additional 745,929 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its position in Amgen by 150.4% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,043,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,580,000 after buying an additional 626,810 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Amgen by 11.4% in the third 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 buying an additional 518,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Amgen by 22.0% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 490,539 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $271.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $276.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.61. The stock has a market cap of $145.50 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $211.71 and a 1 year high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.65.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.09 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio 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.