Zullo Investment Group Inc. Has $356,000 Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Zullo Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Amgen by 6,812.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after buying an additional 2,486,882 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 561.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $496,117,000 after buying an additional 1,306,982 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 263.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,699,000 after acquiring an additional 753,147 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $609,526,000 after acquiring an additional 676,598 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Redburn Partners lowered their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $294.27 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $275.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.