Donoghue Forlines LLC Has $1.47 Million Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Donoghue Forlines LLC trimmed its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 48.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,648 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,341 shares during the quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $56,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has 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 $314.91.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $274.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.02, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $271.91 and a 200 day moving average of $306.43. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week 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.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its 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. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Amgen Company 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.