Sunbelt Securities Inc. Buys 2,051 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 43.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,723 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,051 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1,292.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,693,042,000 after purchasing an additional 6,029,058 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,541,991,000. 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $401,913,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Amgen in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Guggenheim started coverage on Amgen in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $7.79 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $279.45. 2,917,052 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,796,422. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $285.86. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Amgen's payout ratio is 86.86%.

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.