Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Buys 8,271 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 46.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,134 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,271 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 7.0% during the second quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 813 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $312,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Amgen by 29.3% during the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,739 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance boosted its stake in Amgen by 17.2% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 11,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its stake in Amgen by 2.7% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 16,243 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,075,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.28.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $332.80 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $249.70 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $329.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $304.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.53 billion, a PE ratio of 47.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.