Fiduciary Group LLC Reduces Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Fiduciary Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,381 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,828 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up approximately 1.1% of Fiduciary Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $9,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter worth $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter worth $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. SVB Leerink lowered Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $296.95.

Amgen Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $0.60 on Friday, hitting $269.98. 2,436,959 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,035,139. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $211.71 and a 52 week high of $329.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $275.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.52. The company has a market cap of $144.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.09 EPS. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

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.