Vestcor Inc Lowers Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Vestcor Inc reduced its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 4.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,573 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 1,845 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Amgen were worth $12,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Keynote Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the second quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 4,898 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,530,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,421,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Hofer & Associates. Inc grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 6,477 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Redburn Partners lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial cut shares of Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $333.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $319.68.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded down $1.88 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $275.75. The company had a trading volume of 2,790,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,607,342. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.22 billion, a PE ratio of 35.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.80 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $305.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $315.66.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is an increase from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. 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.