Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Increases Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,142 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Unionview LLC increased its position in Amgen by 3.8% during the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.3% during the third quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $493,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. increased its position in Amgen by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 6,972 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,246,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Blossom Wealth Management raised its stake in Amgen by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $312.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $290.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.