Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Somerset Trust Co

Somerset Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,183 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 621 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up 1.9% of Somerset Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 18,643 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,859,000 after purchasing an additional 4,447 shares during the period. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 16,248 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,235,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 3,060.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 21,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,659,000 after buying an additional 21,024 shares during the period. Saxon Interests Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 2,074 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $15,410,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group cut their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Performance

Amgen stock opened at $272.11 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $275.01 and a 200-day moving average of $307.49.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

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.