Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 920 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Everence Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,120 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 920 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the second quarter worth $26,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on AMGN. Barclays lifted their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.83.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $1.10 on Friday, hitting $260.38. 472,873 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,398,615. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $285.75 and a 200-day moving average of $310.70. The stock has a market cap of $139.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.55. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 121.90%.

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.