Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Boosts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 41,589 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Amgen were worth $11,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 165,636 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake 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 during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in 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 valued at $1,365,213,000 after acquiring an additional 518,689 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Amgen by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,356,359 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $902,055,000 after acquiring an additional 459,340 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Amgen by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,716,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $782,288,000 after buying an additional 490,539 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $1.00 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $300.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,672,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,899,668. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $211.71 and a 52 week high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.59. The company has a market capitalization of $161.17 billion, a PE ratio of 42.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company’s revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMGN. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Leerink Partnrs lowered Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Amgen from $332.00 to $328.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, SVB Leerink lowered Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.05.

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.