Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,690 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 74 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Talbot Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.2% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $272.11 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $273.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $307.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.27 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 121.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

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.