Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Increases Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,815 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,959 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Amgen were worth $20,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Transform Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 1,354 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 19,305 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,032,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 9,371 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,442,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 37,404 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,749,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Solidarity Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $1,098,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $273.44 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $146.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $272.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $306.67. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. 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 initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.91.

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.