Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

by · The Markets Daily

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN – Free Report) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,278 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for approximately 2.5% of Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $10,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its position in shares of Amgen by 7.2% during the second quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 129,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,566,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 37.4% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,642 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,310,000 after buying an additional 3,168 shares during the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 19.1% during the first quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 38,067 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,823,000 after buying an additional 6,116 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,758,000 after buying an additional 2,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,772,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AMGN traded up $1.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $316.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,604,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,427,964. The company has a market cap of $170.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $325.49 and a 200 day moving average of $313.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $249.70 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $4.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.01 by ($0.04). Amgen had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 161.72%. The business had revenue of $8.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.55.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on AMGN

About Amgen

(Free Report)

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.

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