Easterly Investment Partners LLC Has $17.38 Million Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 55,613 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,104 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for 1.5% of Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $17,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,880,000. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1,089.5% in the fourth quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. now owns 108,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,348,000 after acquiring an additional 99,688 shares during the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 1,249 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC grew its position in Amgen by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 4,947 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in Amgen by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 346,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $99,922,000 after acquiring an additional 15,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Amgen from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price objective (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays raised Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.89.

Amgen Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $4.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $328.80. The stock had a trading volume of 1,771,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,582,902. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $322.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $299.54. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $248.38 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $176.38 billion, a PE ratio of 46.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 156.21%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

Amgen Company 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.