American Investment Services Inc. Invests $516,000 in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

American Investment Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,979 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $516,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $130,000. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $79,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $193,339,000. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 9,087 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,369,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $150,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMGN. Erste Group Bank lowered Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 target price for the company. Mizuho raised their target price on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Down 0.4%

AMGN stock traded down $1.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $278.40. 3,861,129 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,801,332. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $149.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $284.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.76. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is currently 86.86%.

Amgen 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.