Quadrant Capital Group LLC Has $1.86 Million Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,152 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 861 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,541,991,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Amgen by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $401,913,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 52.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,291,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $858,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,884 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 263.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $270,699,000 after purchasing an additional 753,147 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Bank of America upped their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Down 5.0 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $294.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $158.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $304.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $297.24. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.