Vestcor Inc Lowers Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Vestcor Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,573 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,845 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Amgen were worth $12,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth about $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMGN. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Redburn Partners decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.05.

Amgen Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $277.63 on Tuesday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $305.69 and a 200 day moving average of $315.66. The company has a market cap of $149.23 billion, a PE ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.80 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.