Kestra Investment Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,431 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the second quarter worth about $33,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN stock opened at $282.87 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.80 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.22, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $311.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $317.18.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AMGN. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Redburn Partners cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $323.05.

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.