Courier Capital LLC Cuts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Courier Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,380 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,157 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN traded up $7.96 during trading on Monday, reaching $270.19. 3,364,771 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,085,018. 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 capitalization of $145.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $279.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $308.66.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 121.90%.

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.