Napatree Capital LLC Buys 1,059 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Napatree Capital LLC raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 66.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,655 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares during the quarter. Napatree Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.04.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $316.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $298.80. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $169.78 billion, a PE ratio of 41.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders 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 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

Amgen 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.