First Horizon Advisors Inc. Trims Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,298 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $14,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lansing Street Advisors lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Unionview LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 4.6% during the third quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

Amgen stock opened at $303.01 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $276.27 and its 200 day moving average is $300.40.

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 forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 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.