Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,829 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 402 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 5.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 4,672 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,505,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 8,910 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the period. Chiron Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,646 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,216,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the period. Finally, Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 8.4% in the third quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,267 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,375,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Redburn Partners cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial cut Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Leerink Partners decreased their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $319.68.

Amgen Trading Down 0.8 %

AMGN opened at $273.41 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The firm has a market cap of $146.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.80 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $304.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $315.45.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

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.