Channel Wealth LLC Has $1.55 Million Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Channel Wealth LLC cut its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,941 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 904 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $117,000. Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 12,973 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 81.3% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 7,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,835,000 after acquiring an additional 3,156 shares during the period. Bennett Associates Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $422,000. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,470 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Redburn Partners reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Up 0.2 %

AMGN stock opened at $269.43 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $276.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

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.