Prudential Financial Inc. Cuts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 615,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 29,757 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.11% of Amgen worth $160,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after buying an additional 339,522 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Amgen by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after acquiring an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after acquiring an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised 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 worth $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Redburn Partners reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Two investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $316.04 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $297.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $298.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.78 billion, a PE ratio of 41.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.