Focus Partners Wealth Increases Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 93.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 187,862 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 90,978 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in Amgen were worth $49,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Amgen by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 336,055 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $87,589,000 after buying an additional 68,990 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 49,830 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $12,988,000 after buying an additional 8,393 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $3,077,000. FWL Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 4,790 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,248,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,213,275 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $837,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,742 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Amgen in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 price target for the company. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $315.00 price objective (down from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.23.

Amgen Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $8.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $262.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,927,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,786,150. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $141.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $294.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.08.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.86%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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.