Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Position Increased by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,351 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.'s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX bought a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,027,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $275,000. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $308,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $166,000. Finally, Aurdan Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,588,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho upped their target price on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $309.22.

Amgen Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $3.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $287.02. The stock had a trading volume of 5,437,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,806,757. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $154.33 billion, a PE ratio of 38.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company's 50 day moving average is $283.46 and its 200-day moving average is $285.31.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion during 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio 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.