Great Diamond Partners LLC Sells 225 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Great Diamond Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,202 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 225 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for approximately 1.0% of Great Diamond Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Talbot Financial LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.0% in 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. grew its position in Amgen by 3.2% during 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. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.00.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN stock opened at $285.42 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $271.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $304.84. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.42 billion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 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.