Short Interest in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Declines By 5.8%

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,470,000 shares, a decline of 5.8% from the March 15th total of 11,110,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,920,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. United Community Bank acquired a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $265.64 on Wednesday. Amgen has a 1-year low of $211.71 and a 1-year high of $329.72. The company has a market cap of $142.36 billion, a PE ratio of 21.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $278.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.49.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMGN. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Amgen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $264.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. SVB Leerink lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $286.00 to $326.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.30.

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.