Sunburst Financial Group LLC Cuts Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sunburst Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,915 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 83 shares during the period. Sunburst Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Amgen by 1.2% during 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 buying an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $3,893,771,000 after acquiring an additional 103,851 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after acquiring an additional 251,876 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $296.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $273.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $302.18. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 119.21%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

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.