Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Advocate Group LLC

Advocate Group LLC cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,175 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 38 shares during the period. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. MBB Public Markets I LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 54.0% during the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 75,712 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $23,656,000 after acquiring an additional 26,553 shares during the period. Marathon Capital Management boosted its holdings in Amgen by 30.1% during the second quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 1,188 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the second quarter worth about $15,155,000. Scientech Research LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 442.1% during the second quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 4,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,548,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 4.8% during the second quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 41,302 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,905,000 after buying an additional 1,902 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.65.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $275.42 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $271.39 and a 200-day moving average of $305.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.