Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Takes $418,000 Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,605 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $418,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Leerink Partners cut their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $318.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $171.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.24, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $299.43. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.