Milestone Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Milestone Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 255.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,738 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 2,685 shares during the quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $8,130,610,000 after buying an additional 2,486,882 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 561.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $496,117,000 after buying an additional 1,306,982 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Amgen by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $609,526,000 after acquiring an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,657,183,000 after acquiring an additional 538,545 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN traded up $3.32 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $285.00. 1,408,579 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,959,880. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $153.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.49, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The business's 50-day moving average price is $271.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $304.99.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.96 EPS. Amgen's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen's payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.