Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. Has $540,000 Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,071 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 118.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,405 shares of company stock worth $10,410,596 over the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AMGN. UBS Group lowered their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $292.80 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $157.39 billion, a PE ratio of 38.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $274.73 and a 200-day moving average of $300.81. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 119.21%.

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.