New Century Financial Group LLC Boosts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

New Century Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 386 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Security Financial Services INC. increased its position in Amgen by 5.1% during the first quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 968 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.5% in the first quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 3,603 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its holdings in Amgen by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 8,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,413,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in Amgen by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,206 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,827,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.1 %

AMGN opened at $321.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $326.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $312.15. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.70 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.00 EPS. Analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $329.48.

About Amgen

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.