BLB&B Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

BLB&B Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 294 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Amgen by 547.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 137.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 28,684.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $236,924,000 after acquiring an additional 830,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 9,058.1% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $223,897,000 after acquiring an additional 748,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $319.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $171.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $325.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $313.11. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.70 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.55.

Amgen 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.