First Trust Advisors LP Buys 88,455 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,381,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,455 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Amgen were worth $334,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 8,010 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,936,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Family Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 317.7% in the 1st quarter. Family Management Corp now owns 7,134 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after acquiring an additional 5,426 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 36,539 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,512,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,430,259 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,757,927,000 after acquiring an additional 54,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,247 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,961,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.44% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $1.50 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $260.22. The company had a trading volume of 508,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,433,697. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.76, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $245.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.98. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $211.71 and a one year high of $296.67.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The medical research company reported $5.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.56. Amgen had a net margin of 30.02% and a return on equity of 196.60%. The business had revenue of $7 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 18.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th were given a dividend of $2.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $8.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 9,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.43, for a total transaction of $2,508,305.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,308 shares in the company, valued at $11,627,748.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 14th. Argus cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $220.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $259.53.

Amgen Company Profile

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. It focuses on inflammation, oncology/hematology, bone health, cardiovascular disease, nephrology, and neuroscience areas. The company's products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Neulasta that reduces the chance of infection due a low white blood cell count in patients cancer; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; Xgeva for skeletal-related events prevention; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; and Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization.