Saxon Interests Inc. Raises Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Saxon Interests Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,074 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after buying an additional 2,486,882 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Amgen by 561.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306,982 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 9,058.1% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $223,897,000 after acquiring an additional 748,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Amgen by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after acquiring an additional 676,598 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Up 1.4 %

AMGN opened at $273.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $276.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $307.76. The company has a market cap of $146.82 billion, a PE ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

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.