North Star Asset Management Inc. Acquires 40 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

North Star Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 4,162 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Amgen by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc now owns 3,002 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $865,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its position in shares of Amgen by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 43,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,603,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,963,000. Finally, Nikulski Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 2,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN traded up $2.72 on Monday, reaching $271.65. 447,335 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,826,927. The stock has a market cap of $145.71 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $276.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 EPS 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 $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.95.

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.