Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Position Boosted by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 238.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,643 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $393,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $71,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,765,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 13,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,757 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on AMGN shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, April 12th. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN traded up $6.18 on Friday, hitting $268.93. The company had a trading volume of 3,380,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,077,465. The stock has a market cap of $144.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.58. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $276.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.26. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $211.71 and a 1-year high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

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.