Barrett & Company Inc. Increases Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Barrett & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 998 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Barrett & Company Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 3.8% in the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.4% in the third quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.6% in the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Redburn Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $297.78 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $272.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $303.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a market cap of $160.07 billion, a PE ratio of 38.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s 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.