Meritage Portfolio Management Reduces Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 27.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,970 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,639 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in Amgen by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,825,000 after purchasing an additional 17,387 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 109,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,269,000 after buying an additional 7,237 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 44.9% in the third quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 8,923 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,766 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 13.0% in the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,840 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the period. Finally, Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc purchased a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth about $200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMGN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.00.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $289.02 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $271.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $303.52. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $155.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase 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 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.