Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Acquires Shares of 7,883 Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,883 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,270,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,589,900,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 486.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $258,997,000 after buying an additional 745,929 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its position in Amgen by 150.4% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,043,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,580,000 after acquiring an additional 626,810 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 111.9% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 989,061 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $284,869,000 after buying an additional 522,367 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Amgen by 11.4% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,365,213,000 after purchasing an additional 518,689 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMGN. Barclays upgraded shares of Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $332.00 to $328.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Raymond James began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.05.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $7.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $307.31. 2,858,989 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,909,728. The business has a fifty day moving average of $275.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.74. The company has a market capitalization of $164.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $211.71 and a 1 year high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given 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 2.93%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.