First Bank & Trust Trims Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

First Bank & Trust decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,689 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 271 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $1.29 on Friday, hitting $316.98. 1,604,649 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,427,964. The stock has a market cap of $170.04 billion, a PE ratio of 45.28, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.70 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $325.49 and a 200-day moving average of $313.47.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AMGN. Bank of America boosted their target price on Amgen from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.55.

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.