Amgen Inc. $AMGN Position Lifted by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 61,643 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,775 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $19,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. First Pacific Financial lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 304.5% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 1,388.9% in the 1st quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 134 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AMGN. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $326.00 to $317.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $303.76.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $292.62 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $293.35 and its 200-day moving average is $293.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $339.17.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.28 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.97 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 77.84%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. The trade was a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.