Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Reduces Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lowered its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,824 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 615 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $10,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Amgen by 74.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 20,647 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,451,000 after purchasing an additional 8,795 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 31.7% during the second quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,864 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,257,000 after buying an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the second quarter worth $201,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its holdings in Amgen by 591.7% in the second quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 125,886 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,333,000 after acquiring an additional 107,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 128.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 325,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $101,781,000 after acquiring an additional 183,151 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $273.44 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The business has a fifty day moving average of $271.91 and a 200-day moving average of $306.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $146.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a boost 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 3.48%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Redburn Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.