Ellerson Group Inc. ADV Purchases 1,230 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ellerson Group Inc. ADV boosted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,159 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Amgen comprises 2.3% of Ellerson Group Inc. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Ellerson Group Inc. ADV’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Amgen by 1.1% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 538,899 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,639,000 after buying an additional 5,751 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 42.8% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,756 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,721,000 after buying an additional 5,325 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth about $1,719,000. Finally, Windward Capital Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.6% during the third quarter. Windward Capital Management Co. CA now owns 22,239 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,166,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.95.

Insider Activity at Amgen

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 value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $324.86 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $174.52 billion, a PE ratio of 43.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $286.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $299.69.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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%. Research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

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.