National Pension Service Purchases 17,831 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

National Pension Service raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 897,035 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 17,831 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.17% of Amgen worth $258,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,658 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,133,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 76.8% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 37,695 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $10,857,000 after buying an additional 16,376 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group increased its holdings in Amgen by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,445 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners increased its holdings in Amgen by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,830 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Mizuho increased their price target on Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Amgen from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. William Blair raised Amgen from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Amgen from $332.00 to $328.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $305.65.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Amgen Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $5.55 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $312.86. 2,920,928 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,909,855. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $329.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $276.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $281.92.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.98 EPS. Amgen's revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

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.