Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Increases Dividend to $2.38 Per Share

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 10th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 2.38 per share by the medical research company on Friday, March 7th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25.

Amgen has increased its dividend by an average of 8.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Amgen has a payout ratio of 44.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Amgen to earn $21.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $9.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.7%.

Amgen Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $296.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $302.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.26. Amgen has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $159.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.29, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 20.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMGN. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

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.