Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 922 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 922 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. BIP Wealth LLC increased its position in Amgen by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Amgen by 28.1% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 30,373 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,788,000 after purchasing an additional 6,662 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,172,866 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $377,909,000 after buying an additional 39,559 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 87,595 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,224,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 14.7% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,443 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,220,000 after acquiring an additional 6,835 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $279.95 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $318.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $318.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.48 billion, a PE ratio of 35.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.52 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS 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 dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMGN. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $333.57.

Amgen 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.