Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $198,000 in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 687 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays raised shares of Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Raymond James initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.05.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $7.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $307.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,858,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,909,728. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.74. 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 12 month low of $211.71 and a 12 month high of $329.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.85 billion, a PE ratio of 43.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Amgen Company 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.