Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by CPA Asset Management LLC

CPA Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,380 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the quarter. CPA Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $686,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 83,875.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,541,011 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,980,571,000 after buying an additional 7,532,031 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,351,778,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 158.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,950,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $774,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,456 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,301,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,493,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Amgen by 164.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,337,970 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $323,548,000 after acquiring an additional 832,885 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMGN. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $286.00 to $326.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $303.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Amgen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $264.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.30.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $285.46. The company had a trading volume of 669,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,013,627. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $290.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The company has a market capitalization of $152.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.09 EPS. Research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. 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.