Bensler LLC Purchases 1,472 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Bensler LLC increased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,704 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the quarter. Bensler LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Dbs Bank raised Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $362.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.50.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $321.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $173.04 billion, a PE ratio of 41.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $323.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $316.68. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $260.52 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 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.