Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 236,675 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 20,545 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $68,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $2,079,000. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,315,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 127.5% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $421,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 11,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,440,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $269.98 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The company has a market capitalization of $144.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $275.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $281.51. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.