Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC Grows Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Key Points

• Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC has increased its stake in Amgen Inc. by 22%, owning 8,370 shares valued at approximately $2.6 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have significantly raised their positions in Amgen, with Capital World Investors increasing its stake by 1,292% during the fourth quarter.
• Amgen announced a quarterly dividend of $2.38 per share, representing a yield of 3.2%, with an ex-dividend date set for August 22nd.

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 22.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,370 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 1,510 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $2,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1,292.0% during the 4th 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. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 43,573.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,661,589 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,140,768,000 after acquiring an additional 3,653,205 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,495,503 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Amgen by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,431,029 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,676,183,000 after buying an additional 875,254 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Amgen by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,890,092 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,274,553,000 after buying an additional 839,686 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $326.00 to $317.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their target price on Amgen from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $330.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, 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 objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $307.23.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $284.70. The company had a trading volume of 2,588,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,017,625. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $339.17. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $293.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.48. The firm has a market cap of $153.09 billion, a PE ratio of 23.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.31.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. The trade was a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.