Ayrshire Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 39.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,606 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,591 shares during the period. Amgen comprises approximately 0.8% of Ayrshire Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $1,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $13,741,409,000 after buying an additional 339,522 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in 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 position 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 acquiring an additional 352,143 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in Amgen by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,182,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,495,503 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in Amgen by 1,292.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,693,042,000 after acquiring an additional 6,029,058 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Erste Group Bank cut Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $315.00 target price (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.22.

Amgen Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded down $1.62 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $291.81. 1,827,452 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,812,318. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $280.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $285.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.65, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.