Forsta AP Fonden Boosts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 130,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Amgen were worth $42,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded up $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $316.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,604,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,427,964. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.70 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $170.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $325.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.47.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.00 earnings per share. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.55.

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.