Busey Bank Has $21.19 Million Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Busey Bank boosted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 81,289 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank’s holdings in Amgen were worth $21,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the second quarter valued at approximately $755,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the second quarter valued at $21,049,000. Lazari Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,367 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth about $846,000. Finally, Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $352,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AMGN. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two 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, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.00.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $281.68 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $305.15. The firm has a market cap of $151.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.