New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 26,316 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 465,499 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 26,316 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.09% of Amgen worth $121,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. PrairieView Partners LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 118.3% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596 in the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $296.97 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $273.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 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.