Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Buys 310 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,730 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up 1.2% of Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,133,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Amgen by 76.8% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 37,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,857,000 after acquiring an additional 16,376 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Amgen by 4.4% during the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $745,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group lifted its stake in Amgen by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,445 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised shares of Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, William Blair upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.05.

Amgen Stock Up 11.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $32.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $311.29. The stock had a trading volume of 9,644,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,279,398. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $211.71 and a 12 month high of $329.72. The company has a market capitalization of $166.97 billion, a PE ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $274.95 and its 200 day moving average is $281.46.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 145.62% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.98 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

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.