Ballentine Partners LLC Increases Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,097 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth $25,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth about $56,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $272.11 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $273.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $307.18. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. 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 capitalization of $146.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its 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. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Leerink Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.91.

Amgen Company 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.