Sound Income Strategies LLC Sells 387 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sound Income Strategies LLC trimmed its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 693 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 387 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Amgen by 547.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $1,556,912,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Amgen by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 137.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $676,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 28,684.1% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $236,924,000 after purchasing an additional 830,405 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AMGN. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. William Blair upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 target price (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.89.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded down $2.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $322.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,786,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,646,529. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $318.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $298.84. The company has a market capitalization of $172.99 billion, a PE ratio of 46.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $248.38 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.5 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

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.