Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD

Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD lowered its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,056 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 228 shares during the quarter. Amgen comprises 0.7% of Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Talbot Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 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 valued at $20,644,335 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $324.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $174.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 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 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $286.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.89. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

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.