Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Decreases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 376,462 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 58,256 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned 0.07% of Amgen worth $98,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 99.7% during the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,202 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors now owns 2,472 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 238,856 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $62,255,000 after purchasing an additional 7,684 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Finally, Davis Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Davis Capital Management now owns 5,930 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Amgen stock opened at $273.44 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $272.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $306.67. 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 stock has a market cap of $146.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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 business 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 company’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

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.