Ibex Wealth Advisors Has $7.03 Million Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ibex Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,963 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 3,460 shares during the period. Ibex Wealth Advisors' holdings in Amgen were worth $7,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Talbot Financial LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $11,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $11,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $19,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $2.34 on Thursday, reaching $284.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,555,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,025,703. The firm has a market cap of $152.67 billion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $271.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $304.99. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Redburn Partners lowered their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $314.00.

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.