Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 635,172 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 35,785 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Amgen worth $204,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth about $426,000. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.8% during the third quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 977 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Old North State Trust LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 6.7% in the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 3.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,156,091 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $699,910,000 after purchasing an additional 76,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 9.0% during the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group cut their price objective 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. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered shares of Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $319.68.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN traded up $2.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $263.38. 13,504,368 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,692,987. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.55. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The company's fifty day moving average price is $296.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $313.27.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.96 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 3.61%. Amgen's payout ratio is 121.90%.

Amgen Profile

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.