State of Michigan Retirement System Has $38.03 Million Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

State of Michigan Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 145,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Amgen were worth $38,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Lansing Street Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $493,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value 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 represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 0.9 %

AMGN opened at $310.78 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $281.80 and a 200 day moving average of $299.73. The company has a market cap of $166.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

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.