Verity & Verity LLC Buys 618 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 87,595 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for approximately 2.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $28,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,566,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,758,000 after acquiring an additional 2,353 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 88.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 78,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,162,000 after acquiring an additional 36,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. now owns 106,538 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,328,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AMGN. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 target price (down from $310.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.57.

Amgen Stock Down 0.9 %

AMGN stock opened at $278.76 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The firm has a market cap of $149.84 billion, a PE ratio of 35.69, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.52 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $319.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $318.65.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

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.