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

Carret Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,179 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 33 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 547.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 6,812.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after buying an additional 2,486,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 137.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AMGN. Dbs Bank raised Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.55.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $316.98 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $325.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a market cap of $170.04 billion, a PE ratio of 45.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $249.70 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

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.