St. Clair Advisors LLC Makes New $730,000 Investment in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

St. Clair Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 2,800 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its position in shares of Amgen by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $272.41 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $291.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.86. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 86.86%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $310.18.

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.