Provence Wealth Management Group Buys 154 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Provence Wealth Management Group increased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,445 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group’s holdings in Amgen were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,035,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,178,910,000 after acquiring an additional 165,636 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,977,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,875,306,000 after purchasing an additional 255,463 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Amgen by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,365,213,000 after buying an additional 518,689 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 15.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,356,359 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $902,055,000 after buying an additional 459,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Amgen by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,716,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $782,288,000 after acquiring an additional 490,539 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $32.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $311.29. The stock had a trading volume of 9,644,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,279,398. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $274.95 and its 200 day moving average is $281.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 145.62% and a net margin of 12.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.98 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AMGN. Barclays raised shares of Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Amgen from $332.00 to $328.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.05.

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.