Carret Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Carret Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,787 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Leerink Partnrs cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $296.95.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock traded down $4.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $268.26. The company had a trading volume of 503,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,810,736. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.55. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $211.71 and a 1 year high of $329.72. The company has a market capitalization of $143.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.42 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 72.06%.

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.