GTS Securities LLC Cuts Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

GTS Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 56.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,117 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 6,541 shares during the quarter. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $1,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America raised their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $309.22.

Amgen Trading Up 1.3%

Amgen stock traded up $3.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $282.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 913,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,794,056. The stock's fifty day moving average is $284.48 and its 200 day moving average is $285.76. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a P/E/G 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.96 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.