Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $1.22 Million Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lessened its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,230 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 81 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several recent research reports. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. William Blair raised Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.05.

Amgen Stock Up 11.8 %

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $32.90 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $311.29. 9,644,103 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,894,568. The stock has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a PE ratio of 24.92, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $274.51 and a 200 day moving average of $281.33.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The company had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 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 issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 72.06%.

Amgen Company 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.