Stifel Financial Corp Sells 52,851 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Stifel Financial Corp lessened its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,408,760 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 52,851 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Amgen were worth $453,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.05.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $278.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $149.57 billion, a PE ratio of 35.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.80 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $308.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $316.40.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.