Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $310.23.

AMGN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at $18,222,743.34. The trade was a 12.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Amgen by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,870,453 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $16,471,790,000 after buying an additional 148,658 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,441,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,245,881,000 after purchasing an additional 352,143 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Amgen by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,182,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,495,503 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Amgen by 1,292.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after purchasing an additional 6,029,058 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of AMGN traded down $4.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $270.45. 2,655,241 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,772,084. The stock's 50-day moving average is $295.24 and its 200-day moving average is $289.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Amgen has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $145.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.96 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.86%.

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.