Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Makes New $421,000 Investment in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,461 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its position in shares of Amgen by 76.8% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 37,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,857,000 after purchasing an additional 16,376 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $745,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners boosted its holdings in Amgen by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Traynor Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,455,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Leerink Partnrs cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $296.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $269.98. The company had a trading volume of 2,436,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,035,139. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $211.71 and a 52-week 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $275.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.45.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.06%.

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.