Amgen Stock Shares $86 Bil Success With Investors
In the last decade, Amgen (AMGN) stock has returned a notable $86 Bil back to its shareholders through cold, hard cash via dividends and buybacks. Let’s look at some numbers and compare how this payout power stacks up against the market’s biggest capital-return machines.
As it turns out, AMGN stock has returned the 23rd highest amount to shareholders in history.
| AMGN | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends | $39 Bil | $4.5 Bil |
| Share Repurchase | $47 Bil | $5.6 Bil |
| Total Returned | $86 Bil | $9.4 Bil |
| Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap | 47.1% | 24.8% |
Why should you care? Because dividends and share repurchases represent direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also signal management’s confidence in the company’s financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows. And there are more stocks like that. Here is a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders via dividends and stock repurchases.
Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return
| Total Money Returned | As % Of Current Market Cap | via Dividends | via Share Repurchases | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $874 Bil | 22.0% | $143 Bil | $731 Bil |
| MSFT | $376 Bil | 12.3% | $172 Bil | $204 Bil |
| GOOGL | $357 Bil | 8.7% | $15 Bil | $342 Bil |
| XOM | $218 Bil | 35.4% | $146 Bil | $72 Bil |
| WFC | $212 Bil | 72.0% | $58 Bil | $153 Bil |
| META | $184 Bil | 10.6% | $10 Bil | $174 Bil |
| JPM | $181 Bil | 20.8% | $0.0 | $181 Bil |
| JNJ | $159 Bil | 28.4% | $105 Bil | $54 Bil |
| ORCL | $158 Bil | 35.7% | $35 Bil | $123 Bil |
| CVX | $157 Bil | 45.4% | $99 Bil | $58 Bil |
For full ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking
What do you notice here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a % of the current market cap appears inversely proportional to growth prospects for reinvestments. Stocks like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are growing much faster, in a more predictable way, compared to the others, but they have returned a much lower fraction of their market cap to shareholders.
That’s the flip side to high capital returns. Sure, they are attractive, but you have to ask yourself the question: Am I sacrificing growth and sound fundamentals? With that in mind, let’s look at some numbers for AMGN. (see Buy or Sell Amgen Stock for more details)
Amgen Fundamentals
- Revenue Growth: 10.6% LTM and 11.2% last 3-year average.
- Cash Generation: Nearly 32.1% free cash flow margin and 24.1% operating margin LTM.
- Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for AMGN was 1.9%.
- Valuation: Amgen stock trades at a P/E multiple of 26.0
| AMGN | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Health Care | – |
| Industry | Biotechnology | – |
| PE Ratio | 26.0 | 24.6 |
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| LTM* Revenue Growth | 10.6% | 6.4% |
| 3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth | 11.2% | 5.6% |
| Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y | 1.9% | 0.3% |
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| LTM* Operating Margin | 24.1% | 18.8% |
| 3Y Average Operating Margin | 25.4% | 18.3% |
| LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin | 32.1% | 14.0% |
*LTM: Last Twelve Months
The table gives good overview of what you get from AMGN stock, but what about the risk?
AMGN Historical Risk
Amgen isn’t immune to big drops. It fell about 35% in the Dot-Com crash and almost 47% during the Global Financial Crisis. The declines weren’t limited to those extremes; the 2018 correction, Covid sell-off, and inflation shock each pushed it down around 19-25%. Even solid companies like Amgen can see meaningful losses when markets turn sour. Risk is always there, no matter how strong the fundamentals look.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.