Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Buys 4,101 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 47,084 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,101 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $13,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Amgen during the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $315.00 to $314.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Leerink Partnrs cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.30.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $284.32 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $211.71 and a 1 year high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The business’s 50-day moving average is $290.09 and its 200-day moving average is $280.70. The company has a market capitalization of $152.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.09 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

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.