Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by NewEdge Wealth LLC

NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 82,196 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,113 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $21,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 118.3% during the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Down 2.9 %

Amgen stock opened at $306.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $279.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.20. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMGN. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

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.