Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 116 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,184 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter worth $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 118.3% during the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $305.82 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $279.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.24. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm 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 an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. 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.