Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,816 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 117 shares during the quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Roundview Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 8,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,027,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,297 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $219,000. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $334,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,688 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,970,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $285.47. 689,273 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,014,296. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.65. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $211.71 and a one year high of $329.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $290.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $280.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMGN. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Amgen from $303.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Amgen from $315.00 to $314.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.30.

Amgen Company 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.