Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Bought by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 13.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 158,852 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,631 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $41,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,955,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $24,761,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 854,473 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $222,710,000 after purchasing an additional 163,480 shares during the period. Prodigy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $268,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in Amgen by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 134,980 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,181,000 after acquiring an additional 3,735 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Trading Down 3.0%

AMGN stock opened at $262.28 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $141.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $293.04 and its 200-day moving average is $288.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.96 EPS. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 86.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMGN. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (down from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $310.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

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.