M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Invests $388,000 in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Talbot Financial LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 9.0% in the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $272.11 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $273.95 and a 200 day moving average of $307.20. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Redburn Partners lowered their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

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.