River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 1,654 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

River Road Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 67,198 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,654 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $19,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter worth $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Amgen in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Amgen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $264.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Leerink Partnrs lowered Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, SVB Leerink lowered Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.95.

Amgen Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $264.07 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72. The stock has a market cap of $141.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $277.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.37.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. Amgen’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 72.06%.

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.