Kestra Advisory Services LLC Grows Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 25.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 80,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,407 shares during the quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $22,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. United Community Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 2,500.0% during the fourth quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 104 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays raised Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $0.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $334.85. 1,515,471 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,821,447. The company has a market capitalization of $179.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $313.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $297.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $228.21 and a 12-month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.98 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.5 EPS for the current year.

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.