Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases 3,156 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Empirical Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 81.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 3,156 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Talbot Financial LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,954 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,659,000 after buying an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 3.2% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,581,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $272.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $275.01 and its 200 day moving average is $307.49. The company has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial cut their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Redburn Partners decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Company 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.