Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Cullen Investment Group LTD.

Cullen Investment Group LTD. trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 48 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $56,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays raised their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN opened at $270.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $145.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $278.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $308.35. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. Amgen’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 121.90%.

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.