Bfsg LLC Decreases Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Bfsg LLC reduced its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,004 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,035,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,178,910,000 after buying an additional 165,636 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,977,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,875,306,000 after buying an additional 255,463 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Amgen by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,437,182 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,461,297,000 after buying an additional 61,528 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Amgen by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,365,213,000 after buying an additional 518,689 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,356,359 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $902,055,000 after purchasing an additional 459,340 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Down 2.1 %

AMGN traded down $5.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $267.41. The stock had a trading volume of 425,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,809,697. The company has a market capitalization of $143.43 billion, a PE ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $275.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.09 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on AMGN shares. SVB Leerink downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.95.

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.