Profit Investment Management LLC Cuts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Profit Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 81 shares during the quarter. Profit Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMGN. Leerink Partners cut their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $269.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average is $276.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $307.76.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.