First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Cuts Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lessened its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 5,834 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 2,619 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,407 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas lifted its stake in Amgen by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas now owns 111,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $29,074,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 2,954 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $770,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.65.

Amgen Stock Down 0.9 %

AMGN opened at $275.42 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $148.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. 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 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.92.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

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.