Boston Common Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 129.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 28,004 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $15,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $278.40 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $284.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $285.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $149.70 billion, a PE ratio of 36.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.96 earnings per share. Amgen’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 86.86%.

Amgen 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.