Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC Grows Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,427 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 239 shares during the quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the second quarter worth $30,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $275.42 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.27, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.81.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.65.

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.