Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,896 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,197 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PrairieView Partners LLC increased its position in Amgen by 118.3% during the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Park Capital Management LLC WI acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $269,000. Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 15,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,082,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Castle Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $959,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $293,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $295.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $158.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $302.23. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 119.21%.

Amgen 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.