LPL Financial LLC Acquires 66,983 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 746,946 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,983 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $233,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. TCW Group Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 174,891 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $50,376,000 after acquiring an additional 35,040 shares during the last quarter. Grassi Investment Management bought a new stake in Amgen in the 1st quarter valued at $2,283,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in Amgen by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 281,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $81,161,000 after buying an additional 4,376 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position in Amgen by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,566,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,388,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AMGN. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.28.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $329.98 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $327.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $303.13. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.70 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $177.01 billion, a PE ratio of 47.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 128.57%.

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.