Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) EVP Sells $7,679,499.00 in Stock

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Amgen Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $303.01 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $276.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $300.31.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 126.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its stake in Amgen by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

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.