Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Buys 1,208 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Key Points

• Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen Inc. by 30.6% in Q1, acquiring an additional 1,208 shares valued at $1,606,000.
• Amgen recently reported earnings per share of $6.02 for the quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $5.28 by $0.74 and achieving a revenue of $9.18 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $2.38, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.3%, with a payout ratio of 77.84%.

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 30.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,154 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KPP Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 87.1% during the first quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new stake in Amgen during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,331,000. DLK Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 7.3% during the first quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,491 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 914,380 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $238,316,000 after purchasing an additional 19,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 21,382 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,662,000 after acquiring an additional 4,252 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank downgraded Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $328.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, June 27th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $303.76.

Amgen Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of AMGN traded up $3.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $288.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,802,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,050,777. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $339.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $293.23 and a 200 day moving average of $292.57. The company has a market cap of $155.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.49.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $9.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. 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, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is 77.84%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

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.