New Century Financial Group LLC Has $871,000 Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

New Century Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,063 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oak Harvest Investment Services lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 19.1% during the first quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 38,067 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,823,000 after purchasing an additional 6,116 shares during the period. Powers Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 2,858 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 8.0% in the first quarter. Core Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 13.2% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 10,176 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Amgen stock traded down $1.39 on Thursday, hitting $309.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,000,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,340,821. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.44 and a 1 year high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $303.81 and a 200-day moving average of $292.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.98 EPS. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. William Blair upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.35.

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.