Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 8,782 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC cut its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 189,882 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 8,782 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for 5.7% of Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $49,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at $845,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth $661,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 42,959 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $13,422,000 after purchasing an additional 5,377 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 33.1% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,241 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,012,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 74,039 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $23,133,000 after purchasing an additional 6,048 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Leerink Partners decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $2.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $272.11. 3,244,015 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,140,853. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $273.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $307.20. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Amgen's payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.