Cetera Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 151.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,984 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,739 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $20,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Provence Wealth Management Group raised its position in shares of Amgen by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,445 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 11,348 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,814 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 4,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 4,730 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,892 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,409,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $1.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $333.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,106,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,890,833. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $228.21 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $316.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $298.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.16 billion, a PE ratio of 47.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 156.21%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMGN. Barclays upgraded Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.63.

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.