Keel Point LLC Boosts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Keel Point LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $247,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 54.5% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 42,258 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,171,000 after buying an additional 14,903 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 199,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $57,520,000 after buying an additional 1,429 shares in the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Amgen by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 29,140 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,393,000 after buying an additional 2,245 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $265.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $279.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.52. The company has a market capitalization of $142.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $211.71 and a 12 month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The company’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMGN. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Amgen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $264.00 to $320.00 in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, SVB Leerink lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.30.

About Amgen

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.