Copley Financial Group Inc. Invests $426,000 in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,322 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $426,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 977 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Old North State Trust LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $537,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,156,091 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $699,910,000 after acquiring an additional 76,798 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Amgen by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 65,564 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $21,124,000 after acquiring an additional 2,046 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AMGN. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $319.68.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded down $2.65 during trading on Friday, reaching $271.41. The company had a trading volume of 182,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,609,458. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $303.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $314.87. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.80 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

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.