Sivia Capital Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 22.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,026 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 295 shares during the quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Amgen by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,552 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,433,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $6.90 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $269.13. 1,895,830 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,867,312. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $279.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.66. The firm has a market cap of $144.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 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, topping 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 business earned $4.96 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. 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 dividend yield of 3.54%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 121.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.91.

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.