Stamos Capital Partners L.P. Boosts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Stamos Capital Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 69.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,730 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,760 shares during the quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $13,741,409,000 after acquiring an additional 339,522 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $3,441,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672,975 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,245,881,000 after purchasing an additional 352,143 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $1,541,991,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,887,248 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,013,172,000 after buying an additional 270,135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $315.22.

Amgen Trading Up 1.6 %

AMGN stock opened at $285.98 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. The company has a market cap of $153.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.88, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $304.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $295.27. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % 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 ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen Company 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.