Biechele Royce Advisors Sells 2,224 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Biechele Royce Advisors lowered its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,848 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 2,224 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for approximately 6.9% of Biechele Royce Advisors' holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Biechele Royce Advisors' holdings in Amgen were worth $20,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital International Investors raised its position in Amgen by 547.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,991,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,923,915 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $14,809,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045,657 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 6,812.4% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 137.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Amgen to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Amgen from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $333.50.

Amgen Trading Down 0.3 %

AMGN traded down $0.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $319.22. 1,826,772 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,418,089. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.52 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $324.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $315.54. The firm has a market cap of $171.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 181.58% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.