Stratos Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Stratos Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,352 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 745 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 3,045 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 22,512 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,423 shares during the period. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Birch Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 23,179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,590,000 after buying an additional 783 shares during the period. Finally, Benson Investment Management Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,772,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $329.48.

Amgen Stock Up 0.1 %

AMGN stock opened at $321.66 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $326.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $311.90. The company has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.70 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 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.