Deltec Asset Management LLC Invests $556,000 in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Deltec Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,132 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMGN. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after purchasing an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after buying an additional 251,876 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.1 %

Amgen stock opened at $289.02 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $303.52. The stock has a market cap of $155.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AMGN. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.00.

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.