J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,819 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AMGN. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $303.01 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.31.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released 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 anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 18.06 % 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 over the last ninety 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.