Banco Santander S.A. Sells 24,628 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Banco Santander S.A. reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 29.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 24,628 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $19,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,566,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Napa Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,104,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Amgen by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,758,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Second Half Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,413,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.57.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $285.11 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $153.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.86, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $318.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $318.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.68 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.