Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC Acquires 752 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 31.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in Amgen by 99,178.6% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 309,188,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $68,646,013,000 after acquiring an additional 308,876,983 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 83,875.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,541,011 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,980,571,000 after purchasing an additional 7,532,031 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $1,351,778,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 216.1% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,690,718 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $228,997,000 after buying an additional 1,839,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 158.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,950,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $774,791,000 after buying an additional 1,806,456 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Argus upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $280.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 17th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. SVB Leerink raised shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, November 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $278.15.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Amgen Inc acquired 1,764,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.00 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,985.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 35,368,653 shares in the company, valued at $601,267,101. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $2,728,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,659,959.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Amgen Inc purchased 1,764,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.00 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,985.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 35,368,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $601,267,101. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $273.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.71, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $211.71 and a 52-week high of $291.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $269.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.93.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The medical research company reported $4.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.65 by $0.31. Amgen had a net margin of 28.20% and a return on equity of 165.37%. The company had revenue of $6.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.70 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 18.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 17th will be issued a $2.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 16th. This represents a $8.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 60.55%.

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.