State of Michigan Retirement System Boosts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 146,597 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Amgen were worth $41,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $411,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $17,072,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 114.5% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 36,595 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,833,000 after acquiring an additional 19,532 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 5.9% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,618 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 33.2% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,844 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,721,000 after acquiring an additional 3,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $310.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,542,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,773,284. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $302.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $292.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $166.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.44 and a 12-month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 156.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AMGN. William Blair upgraded shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.35.

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.