Navellier & Associates Inc. Sells 681 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Navellier & Associates Inc. cut its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,817 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 681 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in Amgen by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 49,931 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,311 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 valued at $6,758,000 after acquiring an additional 2,353 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 5,774 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,642,000 after acquiring an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,430,000. Finally, JT Stratford LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 1st quarter valued at $576,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

Amgen stock opened at $289.00 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.68 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.86, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $318.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $318.22.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Dbs Bank raised Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.