Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,292 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 927 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, 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 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $310.78 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $281.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.73. The company has a market capitalization of $166.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.16, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.