PDS Planning Inc Increases Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

PDS Planning Inc boosted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Amgen were worth $625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $4,589,900,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Amgen by 486.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $258,997,000 after buying an additional 745,929 shares during the period. abrdn plc grew its position in Amgen by 150.4% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,043,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,580,000 after buying an additional 626,810 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Amgen by 11.4% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,365,213,000 after buying an additional 518,689 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in Amgen by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,716,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $782,288,000 after buying an additional 490,539 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.95.

Amgen Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AMGN traded up $1.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $273.51. The company had a trading volume of 599,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,820,464. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $276.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $211.71 and a 1-year high of $329.72. The stock has a market cap of $146.71 billion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 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 earnings per share 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%. Amgen’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. 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 3.29%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.