KBC Group NV Boosts Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 242,435 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,056 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Amgen were worth $63,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after buying an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after acquiring an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after acquiring an additional 251,876 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 11.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.65.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $282.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $271.39 and a 200 day moving average of $305.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.23, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.