Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Acquires 3,658 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 14.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,029 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 3,658 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $9,354,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,088,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,809,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045,657 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 547.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,005,269 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,991,738,000 after purchasing an additional 5,923,915 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 6.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,701,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $844,137,000 after buying an additional 162,223 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Amgen by 137.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,381,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $676,984,000 after buying an additional 1,377,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in Amgen by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,237,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $635,179,000 after acquiring an additional 481,214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $321.66 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $249.70 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.95, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $326.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $312.15.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 161.72% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMGN. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Amgen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $362.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $329.48.

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.