Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Grows Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,201 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,748 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB's holdings in Amgen were worth $21,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $274.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,748,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,619,943. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company's 50-day moving average is $303.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.16. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.80 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.47%. This is a boost from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen's payout ratio is 121.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $333.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $319.68.

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.