Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Bought by Wealth Quarterback LLC

Wealth Quarterback LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Amgen by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,825,000 after acquiring an additional 17,387 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 197,457 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $63,402,000 after buying an additional 15,564 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Amgen by 1.1% during the 3rd 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. Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in Amgen by 14.4% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 29,029 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,354,000 after acquiring an additional 3,658 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $291.16 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $274.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $301.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.51 billion, a PE ratio of 38.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current fiscal 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 represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 119.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

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.