Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Confluence Wealth Services Inc.

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 83.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,413 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 547.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,556,912,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 137.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $676,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 28,684.1% in the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $236,924,000 after purchasing an additional 830,405 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.89.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $2.82 during trading on Friday, hitting $333.83. 2,173,548 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,935,877. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $324.99 and its 200-day moving average is $300.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.69, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $248.38 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

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