Crescent Sterling Ltd. Increases Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Crescent Sterling Ltd. grew its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for approximately 3.0% of Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $289.98 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a market cap of $155.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.41, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $281.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.36. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

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.