Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. Acquires 172,542 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,272,425 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 172,542 shares during the period. Amgen comprises approximately 1.8% of Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. owned about 0.24% of Amgen worth $331,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AMGN. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.04.

Amgen Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $306.95 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $301.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $298.38. 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 twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $164.90 billion, a PE ratio of 40.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total transaction of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.