Wesbanco Bank Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,078 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $13,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Amgen by 74.2% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 20,647 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,451,000 after buying an additional 8,795 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 31.7% during the second quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,864 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter valued at about $201,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its position in shares of Amgen by 591.7% during the second quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 125,886 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,333,000 after buying an additional 107,686 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 128.4% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 325,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $101,781,000 after purchasing an additional 183,151 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $273.44 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $306.67. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.91.

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.