Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases 329 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,314 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 329 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Stablepoint Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 22,469 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC grew its position in Amgen by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 6,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,249 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $847,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 25,564 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,663,000 after buying an additional 997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Square Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 104.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC now owns 14,271 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,720,000 after buying an additional 7,277 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $282.95 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $152.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.23, a PEG ratio of 2.78 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 company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $271.39 and a 200-day moving average of $305.81.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm 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%. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.96 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 3.36%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.65.

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.