Amgen Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 21,787 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 43% compared to the average daily volume of 15,254 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN stock opened at $297.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $271.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $303.55. The company has a market capitalization of $160.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.13, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

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.