Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Takes Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 998 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Roundview Capital LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 8,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,027,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,297 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 1st quarter worth about $219,000. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 1st quarter worth about $334,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,688 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,970,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on AMGN shares. StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Amgen from $315.00 to $314.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. Leerink Partnrs cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Amgen from $303.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.30.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $286.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $211.71 and a 52-week high of $329.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $290.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.48 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.06%.

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.