Brighton Jones LLC Lowers Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Brighton Jones LLC lessened its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,242 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,536 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.2% in the second quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,566,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 37.4% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,642 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,310,000 after buying an additional 3,168 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services grew its position in shares of Amgen by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 38,067 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,823,000 after buying an additional 6,116 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.0% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,758,000 after buying an additional 2,353 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the first quarter valued at about $4,772,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Truist Financial cut Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.55.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $314.90 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $249.70 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $325.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $313.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The firm has a market cap of $168.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

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.