Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 29.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 51,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 11,804 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $13,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 3,955.0% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 174,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 169,748 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.00.

Amgen Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $280.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $271.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $305.15. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

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.