Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 741 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY trimmed its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,823 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 741 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Birch Capital Management LLC raised its position in Amgen by 1.9% in the second quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 24,668 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,477,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners raised its holdings in Amgen by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust grew its position in Amgen by 71.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 11,060 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,456,000 after purchasing an additional 4,620 shares during the last quarter. Pasadena Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $583,000. Finally, Ignite Planners LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 1,753 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. 74.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 9,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.43, for a total transaction of $2,508,305.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,627,748.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Credit Suisse Group cut their price objective on Amgen from $220.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.44.

Amgen Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $263.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $140.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.72. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $296.67.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The medical research company reported $5.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 196.60% and a net margin of 30.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 18.35 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Investors of record on Friday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $2.13 per share. This represents a $8.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 17th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.45%.

Amgen Profile

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. It focuses on inflammation, oncology/hematology, bone health, cardiovascular disease, nephrology, and neuroscience areas. The company's products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Neulasta that reduces the chance of infection due a low white blood cell count in patients cancer; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; Xgeva for skeletal-related events prevention; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; and Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization.