Cornerstone Capital Inc. Trims Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Cornerstone Capital Inc. decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 106,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,058 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for 3.4% of Cornerstone Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Cornerstone Capital Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $30,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $296.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $269.98 on Friday. 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 current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $144.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $275.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.52.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.06%.

Amgen Company 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.