Tower Bridge Advisors Purchases 280 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Tower Bridge Advisors lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,479 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Amgen were worth $3,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 118.3% in the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $308.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $280.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.16. The company has a market capitalization of $165.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.