Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,337 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 49 shares during the quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Talbot Financial LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after buying an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.2% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,581,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $309.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $277.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $300.20. The company has a market cap of $166.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. 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.