Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,930 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 125 shares during the quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 547.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045,657 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 137.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $676,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price objective (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.55.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $317.17 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $249.70 and a one year high of $346.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $325.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $314.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $170.14 billion, a PE ratio of 45.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

About Amgen

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.