BNP Paribas Trims Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

BNP Paribas lowered its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,051 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Amgen were worth $5,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the first quarter worth $3,240,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 1st quarter worth $152,000. Heartland Bank & Trust Co raised its holdings in Amgen by 37.0% during the first quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 1,437 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the first quarter valued at about $152,000. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the first quarter valued at about $151,977,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial cut shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.57.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $280.01 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day moving average is $314.64 and its 200 day moving average is $317.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.51 billion, a PE ratio of 35.85, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.80 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.