Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Sells 312 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. cut its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,324 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 312 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $6,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $315.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $169.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $296.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $299.14. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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%. Equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Amgen 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.