Carnegie Investment Counsel Grows Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 104,819 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,399 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for about 0.8% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Amgen were worth $27,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AMGN. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Redburn Partners reduced their target price on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $269.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $276.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $307.76. The firm has a market cap of $144.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. 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.