Jeppson Wealth Management LLC Has $909,000 Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Jeppson Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 30.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Talbot Financial LLC increased its position in Amgen by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 3.2% in 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 period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $282.95 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $271.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $305.81. The company has a market cap of $152.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AMGN. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.00.

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.