Legal & General Group Plc Has $1.51 Billion Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,839,038 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 135,328 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,511,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,809,720,000 after buying an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings 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 worth $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Amgen by 3.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,679,625,000 after purchasing an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $844,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162,223 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Amgen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $335.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.37.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $319.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $171.18 billion, a PE ratio of 45.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $249.70 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $328.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.00.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 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.