Mason & Associates Inc Trims Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Mason & Associates Inc reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,030 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 243 shares during the period. Mason & Associates Inc’s holdings in Amgen were worth $529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 1,358 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. StrongBox Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. StrongBox Wealth LLC now owns 11,649 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,036,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Flywheel Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $340,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its stake in Amgen by 89.1% in the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 1,235 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smith Thornton Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $268.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $277.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $308.03. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. 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 3.54%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio 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.