Berkshire Bank Decreases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Berkshire Bank cut its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,622 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Amgen were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Amgen by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after buying an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 2.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after buying an additional 251,876 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Amgen by 11.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $282.95 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $271.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.81. The company has a market capitalization of $152.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.23, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.65.

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.