Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 751 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Amgen during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $269.98. The company had a trading volume of 2,436,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,035,139. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.52. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $211.71 and a fifty-two week high of $329.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The stock has a market cap of $144.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $296.95.

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.