Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 17.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,011 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 213 shares during the quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 0.6% during the third quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors grew its holdings in Amgen by 1.3% in the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 3.8% in the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 4.3% in the third quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 807 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AMGN. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $4.39 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $266.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,047,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,744,448. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $279.10 and its 200 day moving average is $308.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.32 billion, a PE ratio of 34.14, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56. 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.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 121.90%.

About Amgen

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.