Abner Herrman & Brock LLC Purchases 2,841 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Abner Herrman & Brock LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 91.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,939 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,841 shares during the quarter. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. New England Research & Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 41.5% in the second quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 14,230 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,159,000 after buying an additional 4,175 shares during the last quarter. Park National Corp OH lifted its position in Amgen by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 2,614 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 3.0% during the second quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 13,464 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,989,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the first quarter valued at about $919,000. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 482.5% in the first quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 332 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. 74.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $220.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 8th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Amgen from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Amgen from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $264.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 9,558 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.43, for a total value of $2,508,305.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,627,748.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock traded up $4.15 during trading on Thursday, hitting $261.38. 600,902 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,427,082. The stock has a market cap of $139.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $211.71 and a one year high of $296.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $245.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $237.17.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 18th were paid a $2.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $8.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.45%.

Amgen 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.