Goldstone Financial Group LLC Buys Shares of 785 Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 785 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its holdings in Amgen by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,566,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.0% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,758,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in Amgen in the first quarter valued at $4,772,000. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. bought a new position in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth $3,354,000. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 82,368 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,736,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.50.

Amgen Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $320.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $324.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $314.82. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $249.70 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $172.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly 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. Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Amgen’s dividend 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.