LM Advisors LLC Takes Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

LM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,460 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $641,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Grassi Investment Management raised its position in Amgen by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 4,600 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,199,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth $270,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $7,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,226 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,464 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AMGN. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $315.00 target price (down from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 target price for the company. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, May 18th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of AMGN traded down $1.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $278.40. 3,861,129 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,801,332. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm's fifty day moving average is $284.48 and its 200-day moving average is $285.76.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is presently 86.86%.

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.