Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Carnegie Investment Counsel

Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 104,819 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,399 shares during the period. Amgen makes up 0.8% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Amgen were worth $27,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $270,000. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. now owns 1,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 1,358 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. StrongBox Wealth LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. StrongBox Wealth LLC now owns 11,649 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,036,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Flywheel Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $340,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Redburn Partners decreased their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $269.43 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $276.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $307.76. The company has a market capitalization of $144.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

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.