Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Centaurus Financial Inc.

Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,615 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,211 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth $16,515,000. Verity & Verity LLC grew its position in Amgen by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 82,368 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Amgen by 99.1% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 840 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. Finally, SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 12.9% during the second quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 11,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,696,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. 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 research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.55.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $319.66 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $249.70 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $171.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.67, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $327.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $309.22.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

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.