Schnieders Capital Management LLC Sells 1,745 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Schnieders Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,068 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,745 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up about 1.5% of Schnieders Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Schnieders Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $6,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 2.6% during the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 15,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,105,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 3.1% during the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 9,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,586,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Essex LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at about $228,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at about $238,000. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 4.9% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 6,953 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,869,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. SVB Leerink lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $296.95.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $1.63 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $273.54. 2,493,074 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,845,341. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $276.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.61. The company has a market cap of $146.72 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month 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.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

About Amgen

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.