Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Has $132.99 Million Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 467,736 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,820 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $132,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 1.7% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,133,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 76.8% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 37,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,857,000 after purchasing an additional 16,376 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners lifted its holdings in Amgen by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traynor Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,455,000 after buying an additional 1,650 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AMGN. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.40.

Amgen Trading Down 0.9 %

AMGN stock traded down $2.44 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $273.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,476,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,816,730. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $211.71 and a 52 week high of $329.72. The stock has a market cap of $146.94 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.09 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

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.