LS Investment Advisors LLC Has $1.20 Million Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

LS Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 14.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,728 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 652 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the second quarter worth $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth $31,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.50.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $321.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $323.96 and its 200-day moving average is $316.68. The company has a market cap of $173.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.22, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $260.52 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

Amgen Company 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.