Ballentine Partners LLC Buys 345 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 345 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,643,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TCW Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 174,891 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $50,376,000 after purchasing an additional 35,040 shares during the period. Grassi Investment Management acquired a new stake in Amgen during the first quarter worth $2,283,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Amgen by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 281,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $81,161,000 after buying an additional 4,376 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,566,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Down 1.2 %

AMGN traded down $3.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $320.56. The stock had a trading volume of 2,242,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,541,291. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $326.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.70 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.28.

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.