Hills Bank & Trust Co Trims Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Hills Bank & Trust Co lowered its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 632 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 35 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Amgen were worth $165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment 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, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $313.71 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $168.53 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $291.82 and its 200-day moving average is $299.33. 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 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%. Equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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 trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. 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 three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.