Lane & Associates LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,429 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 123 shares during the quarter. Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. TCW Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 174,891 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $50,376,000 after buying an additional 35,040 shares during the last quarter. Grassi Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the first quarter worth approximately $2,283,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Amgen by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 281,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $81,161,000 after purchasing an additional 4,376 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 7.2% during the second quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,566,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.28.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $325.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $175.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $326.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.67. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $249.70 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

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.