John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Lowers Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,814 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 130 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,035,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,178,910,000 after buying an additional 165,636 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Amgen by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,301,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,493,471,000 after buying an additional 1,523,665 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,819,690 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,132,778,000 after buying an additional 94,565 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 83,875.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,541,011 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,980,571,000 after buying an additional 7,532,031 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,977,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,875,306,000 after buying an additional 255,463 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of AMGN stock traded up $6.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $268.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,375,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,843,533. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $277.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.24. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $329.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.12 billion, a PE ratio of 21.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The business’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.09 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Amgen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $264.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $296.95.

Amgen Company 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.