Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Buys 2,147 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 39.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,585 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,147 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 21.0% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 20,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,390,000 after acquiring an additional 3,555 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 28.5% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 14,218 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,442,000 after acquiring an additional 3,156 shares during the last quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $3,855,000. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $207,000. Finally, Alpha Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $244,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $267.10 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $277.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $308.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 121.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

Amgen 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.