WCM Investment Management LLC Takes $336,000 Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,166 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Southland Equity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 999 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,868 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $743,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evanson Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $286.00 to $326.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $315.00 to $314.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. SVB Leerink downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.30.

Amgen Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $267.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $280.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.55. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $211.71 and a 1-year high of $329.72. The stock has a market cap of $143.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

Amgen Company 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.