Principle Wealth Partners LLC Reduces Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,635 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $11,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMGN. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Amgen by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after purchasing an additional 103,851 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after buying an additional 251,876 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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 owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

AMGN stock opened at $294.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $158.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.05, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $272.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $302.77. 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 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

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, analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company 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 is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 119.21%.

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.