Unigestion Holding SA Cuts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Unigestion Holding SA cut its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 43,784 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 10,835 shares during the quarter. Unigestion Holding SA’s holdings in Amgen were worth $14,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 3.2% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,581,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares during the period. Napa Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,104,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,255,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Amgen by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 40.1% during the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,552 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $275.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $148.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.31, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $305.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $315.66. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $257.80 and a 52 week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $319.68.

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.