Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) is Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s 10th Largest Position

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,541 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 263 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for approximately 2.1% of Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Lansing Street Advisors increased its position in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.8% in the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. AM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC raised its position in Amgen by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Leerink Partners decreased their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $313.23.

Amgen Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $293.54 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $303.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.88, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 119.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.