Gries Financial LLC Decreases Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Gries Financial LLC reduced its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,973 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 94 shares during the quarter. Gries Financial LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Milestone Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 255.0% in the 4th quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 3,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $974,000 after acquiring an additional 2,685 shares during the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its holdings in Amgen by 258.5% in the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 2,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $720,000 after acquiring an additional 1,993 shares during the last quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC grew its position in Amgen by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 11,107 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,895,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the period. Ibex Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Amgen by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 26,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,027,000 after acquiring an additional 3,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 11,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,985,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $281.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $151.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.07, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $271.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $305.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.00.

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.