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Amgen Shares Got a Lift From Fidelity

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<i> Bloomberg News</i>

Shares of Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc. got a lot of support in the fourth quarter from Fidelity Investments as the mutual fund giant boosted its stake in the world’s biggest biotech firm to 8.6% by Dec. 31 from 5.9% on Sept. 30.

A group of mutual funds owned by Fidelity held 22 million shares of Amgen, maker of anemia drug Epogen and cancer drug Neupogen, as of Dec. 31, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission released Tuesday.

That’s up from 15 million shares at the end of September, which made Boston-based Fidelity Amgen’s biggest shareholder, according to information supplied by Technimetrics Inc., which tracks holdings in public firms.

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It isn’t clear when Fidelity bought in the fourth quarter, but the stock was stuck at about $80 for most of the period--until Amgen on Dec. 21 won an arbitration battle with Johnson & Johnson, giving it full rights to market an anemia drug called NESP that analysts say could become the company’s third blockbuster.

The stock jumped $12.18 to close at $100.31 on Dec. 21 on Nasdaq. It then surged to a record $130 by Jan. 29 before falling back a bit recently. On Tuesday, the stock rose $2 to close at $122.25.

Whether Fidelity has continued to hold its shares, or bought more in recent weeks, won’t be revealed until after the quarter ends.

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