Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,393 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.57.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $283.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $152.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.52 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $318.05.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 115.24%.

Amgen 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.