GSB Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

GSB Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 289 shares during the period. Amgen comprises about 1.0% of GSB Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. GSB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.55.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $311.80 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. The firm has a market cap of $167.26 billion, a PE ratio of 45.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $325.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $314.78. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $249.70 and a 52 week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business’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 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

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.