Cerity Partners LLC Sells 6,135 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Cerity Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 389,138 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,135 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Amgen worth $107,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after purchasing an additional 339,522 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 25.4% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 2,672,975 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,245,881,000 after buying an additional 352,143 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,541,991,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,291,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $858,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,884 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was 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 available at this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.04.

Amgen Trading Down 5.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $294.39 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $158.15 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day moving average of $304.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $296.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

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.