Berbice Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 760 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Unionview LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 807 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Redburn Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $276.83 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $271.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $306.43. 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 $148.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.47, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Amgen Company 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.