KPP Advisory Services LLC Increases Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

KPP Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,802 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Amgen by 547.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,564,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,890,769,000 after purchasing an additional 243,720 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Amgen by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after purchasing an additional 751,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Amgen by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $844,137,000 after buying an additional 162,223 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMGN. Dbs Bank upgraded Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price target (down previously from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.55.

Amgen Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $322.21 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 company has a market capitalization of $172.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.03, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company’s fifty day moving average is $328.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $308.12.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Amgen 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.