Argent Trust Co Has $8.35 Million Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Argent Trust Co raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,719 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 964 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its stake in Amgen by 46.3% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 26,134 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,166,000 after buying an additional 8,271 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 813 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $312,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Amgen by 29.3% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,739 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after buying an additional 2,207 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Alliance increased its stake in Amgen by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 11,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after buying an additional 1,728 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 target price (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.28.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $332.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $178.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.54, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $249.70 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $329.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $304.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released 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 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.00 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 128.57%.

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.