Tower Bridge Advisors Boosts Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Tower Bridge Advisors raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,199 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Amgen were worth $4,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its stake in Amgen by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,566,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 11.0% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,758,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. now owns 106,538 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,328,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,354,000. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 82,368 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,736,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.57.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $283.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $152.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.31, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $320.85 and a 200-day moving average of $318.36. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $260.52 and a 12-month high of $346.85.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

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.