Aviance Capital Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,586 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 526 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for 1.5% of Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $6,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,133,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in Amgen by 76.8% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 37,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,857,000 after acquiring an additional 16,376 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in Amgen by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,445 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. William Blair upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays raised Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.05.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $11.81 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $299.48. The company had a trading volume of 4,717,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,915,562. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.59. The stock has a market cap of $160.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.98 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

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.