Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC Reduces Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,890 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 456 shares during the quarter. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $274.81 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The business has a fifty day moving average of $272.95 and a 200-day moving average of $306.92. The stock has a market cap of $147.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) 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, analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.