Townsquare Capital LLC Buys 8,789 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 27.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,954 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,789 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $12,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Amgen by 1,292.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after acquiring an additional 6,029,058 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 43,573.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,661,589 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,140,768,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,205 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,182,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,495,503 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Amgen by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,431,029 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,676,183,000 after acquiring an additional 875,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Amgen by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,890,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,274,553,000 after acquiring an additional 839,686 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AMGN. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $303.76.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $288.23 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $293.23 and a 200-day moving average of $292.57. The stock has a market cap of $155.17 billion, a PE ratio of 23.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.31. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $339.17.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $9.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.97 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. Amgen’s payout ratio is 77.84%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares in the company, valued at $2,364,368.16. The trade was a 15.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.