Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Grows Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 54,936 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 4,635 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $15,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,035,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,178,910,000 after buying an additional 165,636 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted 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 acquiring an additional 255,463 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,437,182 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,461,297,000 after purchasing an additional 61,528 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,365,213,000 after purchasing an additional 518,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 15.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,356,359 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $902,055,000 after purchasing an additional 459,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock traded up $6.40 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $276.38. 2,678,923 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,820,901. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $274.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.45. The company has a market cap of $148.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. SVB Leerink downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

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.