U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 25.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,561 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the third quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors raised its position in Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC raised its position in Amgen by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.3% in the third quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 807 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the third quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.00.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $285.42 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $304.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $153.42 billion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 121.90%.

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.