Avestar Capital LLC Acquires 344 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Avestar Capital LLC increased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,377 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $150,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Amgen by 2.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 217,734 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $70,156,000 after acquiring an additional 5,056 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 4.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,247,304 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,368,524,000 after purchasing an additional 181,703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth about $230,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America upped 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. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.57.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $261.43 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $315.69 and a 200 day moving average of $318.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $140.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.68 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.52 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.