Pathway Financial Advisers LLC Boosts Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 132 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for 1.2% of Pathway Financial Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after purchasing an additional 103,851 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after purchasing an additional 251,876 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,442,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,431,432,000 after buying an additional 264,396 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $295.06 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $158.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $273.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $302.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 119.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.