Cornerstone Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMGN. Capital International Investors increased its position in Amgen by 547.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,991,738,000 after buying an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 137.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $676,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,007 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 28,684.1% in the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $236,924,000 after acquiring an additional 830,405 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after acquiring an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $332.45 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $328.18 and a 200 day moving average of $304.00. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $249.70 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.49, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $8.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.00 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus increased their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Amgen from $332.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.28.

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.