J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Grows Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its stake in Amgen Inc. by 0.6%, owning a total of 246,355 shares valued at approximately $76.75 million, representing about 1.4% of its total holdings.
• Amgen's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $4.90 earnings per share and $8.15 billion in revenue, marking a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.4%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $2.38, yielding 3.2%, with an annualized payout of $9.52 and a payout ratio of 86.86%.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 246,355 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 1,478 shares during the quarter. Amgen comprises about 1.4% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Amgen were worth $76,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Pacific Financial lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 304.5% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 1,388.9% in the 1st quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 134 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $1.86 on Tuesday, reaching $300.08. 2,661,831 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,904,146. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70. The business's 50 day moving average price is $292.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $292.40. The company has a market capitalization of $161.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.49. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $339.17.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.21 by $0.81. Amgen had a net margin of 17.39% and a return on equity of 176.11%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is currently 86.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. Wall Street Zen raised Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, May 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $328.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on Amgen from $315.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $307.27.

Amgen Company 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.