Aviance Capital Partners LLC Acquires 7,910 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 33.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,496 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,910 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up about 1.3% of Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,955,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 54,628 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,682,000 after purchasing an additional 5,609 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 448.3% during the 3rd quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 5,340 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,435,000 after buying an additional 4,366 shares in the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $411,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $17,072,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 6,532 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 892 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on AMGN. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho upped their target price on Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays upgraded Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock traded up $4.82 during trading on Monday, hitting $317.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 162,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,770,275. The business has a fifty day moving average of $301.56 and a 200-day moving average of $292.30. The company has a market cap of $170.19 billion, a PE ratio of 44.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.44 and a 52 week high of $329.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96.

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

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.