Capital Investment Counsel LLC Acquires 431 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 18,618 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. BSW Wealth Partners raised its stake in Amgen by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 2,371 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 4,382 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Tamar Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Tamar Securities LLC now owns 57,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,879,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Amgen by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,145 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,350,000 after acquiring an additional 3,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jeppson Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays upped their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.00.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $280.30 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.51. The stock has a market cap of $150.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. 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 previous year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 121.90%.

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.