Ameriflex Group Inc. Buys New Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 963 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC now owns 4,623 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,205,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 5,154 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Blossom Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,090 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trillium Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 911 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 18th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.22.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $5.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $283.54. 2,801,720 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,801,334. The business's fifty day moving average is $284.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $285.76. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $152.46 billion, a PE ratio of 37.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. The company 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%. Amgen's revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.86%.

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.