North Forty Two & Co. Buys Shares of 2,420 Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $631,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 538,899 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,639,000 after acquiring an additional 5,751 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 1,568.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,919 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804 shares during the last quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 8,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,169 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 98,605 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 16,424 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $318.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $171.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.21, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $294.12 and its 200 day moving average is $298.91. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at $18,222,743.34. This trade represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.04.

Amgen Company Profile

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.