Verum Partners LLC Has $331,000 Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Verum Partners LLC lessened its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 90 shares during the quarter. Verum Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Amgen by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after buying an additional 103,851 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 2.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,393,718,000 after acquiring an additional 251,876 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after acquiring an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $274.81 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $147.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $306.92.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Leerink Partners cut their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.