LVW Advisors LLC Sells 850 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

LVW Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,206 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 850 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Amgen Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $272.11 on Monday. 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 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.20.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 a boost 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

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.