Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Raises Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,335 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 970 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Windward Capital Management Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Windward Capital Management Co. CA now owns 22,239 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,166,000 after buying an additional 556 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,719,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,756 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,721,000 after purchasing an additional 5,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth about $25,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMGN. Barclays boosted their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.50.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $325.28 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $323.61 and a 200-day moving average of $317.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.52 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.96 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.